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	church_n	let_v	2,627	5	4.5197	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61684	Pagano-papismvs, or, An exact parallel between Rome-pagan, and Rome-Christian, in their doctrines and ceremonies by Joshua Stopford ...	Stopford, Joshua, 1636-1675.	1675 (1675)	Wing S5744; ESTC R20561	127,566	354

have spent in Reading their Missals Breviaries Rituals and Authors of chiefest note amongst them and find their Religion and Worship so contrariant to Scripture so absurd and Ridiculous that I must publickly profess an utter detestation of it Yet I think it not a much less sin to make Papists worse than they are than to make Widows more destitute or add Affliction to the afflicted I have intituled this Book An Exact Parallel between Rome-Pagan and Rome-Christian c. And how truly I leave it to any one upon an impartial View to judg Many things are purposely omitted for brevity sake and several Reflexions upon what I have mention'd which perhaps might have made this Discourse more acceptable to some to prevent the imputation of a Railer There are two Positions laid down and not with more Zeal than Policy defended by the Roman Church for I do not see how they could secure their deluded Proselytes without them 1. That 't is not convenient the common People should know much of Religion and therefore they take from them the Key of Knowledg I mean the use of their Bibles Bellarmin saith That Faith is to be defined rather by ignorance than by knowledg De Justificat Lib. 1. cap. 7. Thieves will blow out the Candles for fear of being discover'd I know the common Plea is That Scripture is dark and that the ignorant might be seduced by it But they that speak thus do not only accuse Scripture of obscurity but of untruth also for Scripture bears witness to it self That 't is clear and made to give Light to the Vnderstanding Psal 19. 8 The Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the eyes Psal 119. 105 Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Path. The Books of the Prophets are of all Scripture the most obscure yet S. Peter saith That they are like a Light shining in a dark place Thus they accuse Scripture of untruth when they accuse it of darkness and with that cast a great reproach upon God as if he had digg'd a pit to make men fall into it in the dark and deliver'd the Doctrine of Salvation in obscure Terms to lead men into errour like one that makes his Will in ambiguous words purposely to occasion Strife among his Heirs Should the Father of Lights study obscurity He that gave his Son to save his Enenemies Should he be envious of the Salvation of his Children If the Scripture must be prohibited to the People lest they fall into Heresie by the same nay by a stronger reason it ought to be prohibited to Bishops and Priests since from them not from the People all Heresies have proceeded Read the Catalogues of ancient Hereticks made by S. Austin Epiphanius and you will find that almost all the Heresiarchs were Clergymen But 'T is no wonder that our Adversaries of Rome find Scripture dark since they cannot find in it what they would For he must needs have piercing Eyes and a reaching Wit that can find in Scripture a Command for Sacrificing the Body of Christ in the Mass or the Invocation of Saints or the Veneration of Images and Reliques or the Popes Succession in S. Peters Primacy c. Doubtless the Scripture is not so dark but these Gentlemen desire that it were a thousand times darker that none might find in it their condemnation The advice which certain Bishops in Bononia gave unto Pope Paul 3. was That no Mortal should be permitted to read more of the Scripture than that little which was wont to be read in the Mass And they give two weighty Reasons for it 1. Because so long as men were content with that little your Affairs succeeded according to desire but quite contrary since so much of the Scriptures was read 2. Because if any one read that Book viz. the Scriptures and observe the Customs and Practices of our Church he will see that there is no agreement betwixt them and that the Doctrine which we Preach is altogether different from and sometimes contrary to that contained in the Bible The Doctrine of an Implicit Faith is of singular Use and admirable Advantage to the Church that delivers it Vnhappy Papists like the Andabatae of Old must wink and fight and are obliged to follow their Guides in spight of Christs Caution given upon the like occasion Mat. 15. 14. Protestant Ministers bespeak their Hearers in the words of S. Paul I speak as to wise men judg what I say 1 Cor. 10. 15. while Popish Priests must if they would speak out say I speak as to Fools believe all that I say A plain sign their Gold is adulterate because they dare not suffer it to come to the Touch-stone And this piece of Policy they seem to have learn'd of the old Pagans who kept the common People in ignorance of their Sacred Mysteries Plutarch in vita Numae p. 58 62. Alexander ab Alexand. in Genial Dier lib. 4. cap. 17. And Tiraquellus in his Annotations upon him saith Sacra seclusa dicebantur Graecis Mysteria quod ea intus oporteat occludere nec cuiquam profano i. e. non sacris initiato explicare There 's nothing feigned saith S. Ambrose nothing is done in the dark as 't is among the Gentiles whose eyes they cover lest the People seeing those Things which they call Sacred might perceive how they are abused with divers Vanities In 1 Cor. cap. 14. And so much for their first Position 2. The second is That unwritten Traditions are of Equal Authority with Scripture and the Rule of Faith and Manners Concil Trident. Sess 4. ●e Canonicis Scripturis Bellarmin ●ffirms That the Scripture is not a ●ufficient Rule of Faith de verbo Dei non script Lib. 4. cap. 12. The Church saith Lindanus was not tyed to Scripture by the will of Christ Panopl Lib. 5. cap. 5. Christ would not have his Church to depend on Scriptures of paper and would not commit his Mysteries to Parchment Costerus Enchirid. cap. 1. p. 43. And Salmeron gives us a Reason why God would not have all the Mysteries of Religion to be written viz. That the Commandment of Christ should be kept Give not holy things unto dogs Tom. 13. disput 8. p. 216. Which Reason is also given by Costerus Enchirid. cap. 1. p. 48. Nay 't is most evident That they have exalted Traditions above Scripture Costerus calleth the Tradition Printed in the Heart of the Church another kind of Scripture The Excellency of that Scripture saith he far surmounteth the Holy Scriptures which the Apostles have left in parchments Enchirid. cap. 1. p. 44. Stapleton affirms That the Church's determination is of greater Authority than the Scripture de Auth. Script Controvers 7. Lib. 12. cap. 15. And in another place he saith That Scripture in it self is not so much the Rule of Faith as the Faith of the Church that is the Tradition of the Roman Church is the Rule of Scripture And they speak more reverently of

hence saith God I have given thee a forehead more hard than their foreheads The Clapper which striking on both sides of the Bell makes the sound denotes the Doctors tongue which is adorned with knowledg and publisheth both the Testaments A Prelate therefore without abilities to preach is like a bell without a clapper And the striking of the clapper on both sides the bell signifies that a Preacher ought first to smite Vice in himself by correction and afterwards proceed to reprove it in others The band wherewith the clapper is ti'd to the bell denotes the moderation wherewith the tongue is temper'd The Wood in which the bell hangeth signifies the wood of the Cross of Christ The Iron ligatures which tye and fasten the bell to the wood denote Charity by which the Preacher being inseparably conjoin'd to the Cross glorieth saying Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord. The wheel by which the bell is toll'd signifies the right mind of the Preacher which being wholly addicted to the Divine Laws he presseth them upon the people by continual preaching The rope wherewith the bell is tolled denotes the humility or life of the Preacher Again the rope is ty'd to the wood in which the bell hangeth to signifie that the Scripture descendeth from the wood of the holy Cross and as the Rope is made of three cords so the Scripture consisteth of a Trinity viz. History Allegory and Morality And the rope descending from the wood in the Priests hand is the Scripture descending from the mystery of the Cross in the mouth of the Preacher and it comes to his hand because the Scripture should produce good works The rising and falling of the Rope in tolling or ringing the bell denotes that the holy Scripture sometimes speaks of high and sometimes of low matters or that the Minister sometimes preacheth mysteriously and sometimes plainly according to the capacity of the people Again the Priest pulls the Rope downward when he descends from contemplation to action and upward when the Scripture is exalted in contemplation Lastly He pulls it downward when the Scripture is expounded literally upward when it is expounded spiritually Ration divin Offic. lib. 1. cap. 4. CHAP. XV. The single Life of Priests POPE Syricius speaking of the marriage of Priests saith Let this reproach be taken away which Gentilism doth accuse Epist 4 whence it is clear for we must not question the Popes unerring faculty That Marriage was prohibited Pagan Priests Clemens Alexandrinus tells us That the ancient Hereticks took occasion to condemn Marriage from the Precepts and Practices of Pagan Philosophers Strom. lib. 3. The Athenian Hierophanta's saith S. Hierome to this day by supping the broth of Hemlock make themselves chast being forbidden Marriage before they were admitted into Sacred Orders or advanced to Prelatical Dignity And discoursing of the Lives of the ancient Priests of Egypt out of Chaeremon the Stoick he faith That they never mingled themselves with women never would see their Relations and Neighbours no not their Children from the time that they were consecrated and they abstain'd from flesh and wine to suppress all lustful thoughts and desires Adver Jovinian lib. 1 in fine lib. 2. And the Priests of Cybele saith Alexander ab Alexandro did castrate themselves that they might be chast And he further adds in the same place Those who performed their greatest solemnities or their chief Priests that they might continue in chast Religion and escape the contagion of Women did emasculate themselves with certain Herbs and lost their manliness And this saith he was commanded by their Pontisical Law which runs thus Ad divos adeunto casti pietatem adhibento opes amovento qui secus faxit Deus ipse vindex erit And Euripides testifieth That in Crete those whom they called the Prophets of Jupiter do not only abstain from flesh but also from all savoury meat And the like did the Indian Magi who were advanced to the Priesthood of the Sun Alexander ab Alexandro in Genial Dier lib. 4. cap. 17. And among the Assyrians the Priests of Diana Ecbatana liv'd in perpetual Virginity Idem lib. 5. cap. 12. To add more Testimonies is unnecessary since this is generally confessed by our Romanists and urged by Medina as an unanswerable Argument against the Marriage of Priests Chamier de Caelibat Sacerdot lib. 17. cap. 7. 2. Pagan Priests defiled themselves with strange Women Arnobius describing the single life of Priests amongst the Gentiles saith Where are Whoredoms more committed by Priests than in the Temples even by the Altars Where are Bawdries more practised and Adulteries more meditated Lastly Burning lust is more frequently discharged in Chancels than Brothel-houses Adver Gent. lib. 8. Thus do our Romanists forbid their Priests to marry The Council of Trent denounceth an Anathema against all those who shall say That Clerks in Holy Orders may contract Matrimony and that such a Contract is valid notwithstanding the Laws and Constitutions of the Church Ses 24. Can. 9. Costerus undertakes to prove That Marriage is repugnant to the Evangelical Priesthood in the very nature of it De Coelib Sacerdot Others as Major in Sentent Clichtovaeus de Continent Sacerdot c. plead for a Divine Law But their great Bellarmine is forced to confess that this prohibition is not grounded upon any Divine Law De Cler. lib. 1. cap. 18. So Aquinas 22 Quest. 88 Art 11 and this is the most received Opinion among them And yet with them 't is a greater Crime for a Priest to have one Wife than many Whores which is expresly prohibited by the Law of God 'T is lawful with them for Priests to keep Concubines paying so much yearly to the Official and the price is set down in their Taxa Camerae Apostolicae but for a lawful Wife no dispensation will be granted Nay 't was one of the German Grievances That such Priests as were dispos'd to live chastly and abhorr'd this sin of uncleanness were compelled to take dispensations to keep Concubines They are not ashamed to confess That no Priest is to be depos'd for the cause of Fornication if he confine himself to one Woman Decret Dist 34. c. 4. And Can. 7 we have these comfortable words Though there be many things which the Authority of Canonical Sublimity may command in these cases yet because of the defection of our times in which not only the merits but also the bodies of men have failed this severity must be remitted And they generally affirm That a Priest sinneth more grievously in contracting Matrimony than in committing Fornication 2. Our Roman Priests defile themselves with strange Women This is most clear from the Testimony of their own Authors Mantuan speaking of the filthiness of the Romish Clergy saith Nulla hic arcana revelo Non ignota loquor liceat vulgata referre Sic Vrbes populique ferunt ea fama per omnem Jam vetus Europam mores extirpat honestos Sanctus ager