Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	apostolical_a	faith_n	rule_n	2,118	5	8.1928	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76262	A Legacie left to Protestants, containing eighteen controversies, viz. 1. Of the Holy Scriptures. 2. Of Christs Catholick Church, &c. 3. Of the Bishop and Church of Rome, 4. Of traditions needfull, &c.	Bayly, Thomas, d. 1657?,; T. B.	1654 (1654)	Wing B1512; Thomason E1667_2; ESTC R208395	72,275	206

himself recounteth So did the Wiclifests as Waldensis citeth their words and proveth it still to have been the custome of Hereticks to cloak their Novelties under a specious and fraudulent pretence of imbracing onely the Lib. 2. de doctrina fidei cap. 9. Scriptures by themselves falsly expounded which is as there he saith to follow their own judgments and not Scripture consisting as S. Hierome told the Luciferans not in the words but in the true meaning of them an adulterated sense being no lesse harmfull than a forged letter to be imbraced So as this learned Author demanded well of Wicklif Why said he should we believe your lately devised Interpretations of Scripture to prove your Heresies more than you believe all the ancient Fathers and Doctors of Christs Church in all places of the world and ages before you for if you tell us that they were men and might erre I may answer that you are not Angels or Doctors sent from heaven that Christians now after 1300 years should learn a new Faith and Exposition of scripture from you wherein also you differ no lesse among your selves than you have done from all antiquity before you as having no certain rule of Faith to determine differences between you And those very Scriptures out of which you pretend to gather your Faith wholy neither are nor can be but by the Churches testimony certainly notified unto you for as they cannot give testimony unto themselves nor any one part to the rest so as Calvins inward light pretended to be given unto all faithfull persons for the knowledge of them is a meer fancy as elswhere I have proved And whereas Protestants affirm that we have in our Church many vain and unprofitable traditions yea repugnant unto Scripture yet in their authority equalled by us unto them they do herein affirm many untruths together for that with us all Traditions are not equal in their authority and such as are truly Apostolical and have had their origine from the Apostles are we say of no lesse authority as the Church retaineth a memory still of them than if they had been by their first Authors written and we have certain rules whereby they come to be known infallibly by us The first is taught by S. Austin in these words that point or practice Lib. 4. contra Donat. of faith not taught in Scripture nor decreed in Councels yet ever retained by the Church is rightly believed to have from Apostolical authority descended to us such is the Baptism of Children c. The second Rule is this if any point of faith hath been unanimously taught by the holy Fathers and yet not mentioned in Scripture it may be securely imbraced as an Apostolical tradition such is the perpetual Virginity of the mother of God the number of the Gospels c. The third Rule is if any thing hath been practiced and believed still in the Church which could not be at first by humane authority introduced and established it is to be thought to have come from the Apostles such are the matters and form● of Sacraments their number and the proper effects of them prayer for the dead c. The signe of the Crosse used in Baptisme and other such religious customs which if as things of light moment they should come to be neglected saith S. Basil and not regarded the Lib. de Spiritu Sancto belief and practice of the Church in points of greater moment would totter also and become weakened in their authority sithence the Gospels themselves are not more certainly than by the Churches tradition and authority confirmed unto us Tertullian with S. Basil teacheth such traditions and Lib. de pudicitia de coronam clitis so doth S. Ambrose S. Austin and many other chief Fathers even such as lived with or neer the Apostles themselves as S. Dennis S. Ignatius S. Irenaeus S. Justin Martyr Origen and S. Cyprian blamed therefore by the Calvinists 2. cent cap. 4. 3. cent c. 4. for this doctrine Eusebius also affirmeth Hegesippus a disciple of the Apostles themselves to have wrote five Books in a simple stile but with great sincerity of such traditions as had been left to the Church by them against Calvins impiety peremptorily after his manner and proudly condemning for sacrilegious and superstitious all external rites used in the Service of God and not expressed in Scripture Yet we finde that himself in the order of his Genevian Congregation hath many new rites and ordinations of his own appointment no where mentioned in Scripture presuming so of a power in himself above the Apostles themselves to ordain them for that his must be imbraced and theirs condemned and deemed sacrilegious albeit Lib. 3. ●4 never so authentically testified unto us Perchance he had never read or little regarded that important question which antient Irenaeus proposed about Traditions and verities of faith believed by all good Christians yet not expressed in Scripture What saith he if the Apostles had left no Scriptures at all behinde them ought we not to have followed the order of Tradition which they left unto those Bishops unto whom they recommended those Churches which had been founded by them and to speak no more hereof even now in our time we know many barbarous Nations to have received by their preaching the faith of Christ and to persevere holily therein flying and detesting all Heresies contrary in any sort unto the same who as wholy unlearned never had any Scriptures at all but onely stick unto the Traditions which were at first by the Apostles themselves delivered unto them And if such Traditions as are now in our Churches retained and observed for the order of divine Service and decency therein to be used should be accounted sacrilegious and abominably superstitious as Calvin would have them The use for example of s●cred Vestments the signe of the Crosse in Baptisme Prayers said at the burial of the dead bowing at the name of Jesus and other like Ceremonies that admonition of S. Pauls would come to be neglected charging the Corinthians to do all things honestly or in a seemly 1 Cor. 14. manner and according to order in the Church as we can prove from assured testimonies the Primitive Christians did during the fi●st hundred years after Christ in their publick sinaxes or meeings at divine Service and Sacraments together recounted by S. Dennis of Areopagita in his Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy in the 2 or 3 chapters together by S. Justin Martyr in his second Apology for Christians to Antonius Pius the Emperour and by S. Ignatius insinuated plainly enough in many places of his Epistles by Tertullian also in his book ●● pudicitia and other fathers living in or near unto the age of the Apostles And such Ceremonies as are by Calvin so rejected and condemned in the publick order of divine Service are thus by S. Austin approved in such things as are not determined in Scripture the customs of Gods Church

of it more in a generall Councel than in the Pope who hath authority to call and confirm it is an extravagant opinion of some divines and hath little colour of truth in it especially considering that sundry great and general Councels not following the Popes sentence and directions given either by their Letters or Legats in them have perniciously in their Decrees and scandalously erred Whereas it cannot be proved that Popes alone have in their doctrines so failed Neither hath it in former times been held necessary for resolving doubts in matters of faith or for condemning Heresies risen against them to have a generall Councel presently called but Popes alone have commonly performed that Office acknowledged by chief Fathers in all ages to belong unto them so as amongst many others which might here to that purpose be instanced by me St. Hierom writing to Pope Damasus about admiting 3 hypostasies in the deity or not because that word then was of a doubtfull signification tell me saith he whether I shall admit them or not as a sheep I ask help of my Sheapherd I know not Vitalis I refuse to believe M●lesius I am joyned to your beatitude alone c. And in this kinde of language have other antient fathers written to sever●l P●p●s to have qu●stions and doubts of fai●h resolved by them which they would not have done had they not believed our Saviours prayer that their faith should not fail to h●ve been heard for them by his eternal Father and that a peculiar assistance of the Holy Ghost was promised unto them The fourth Controversie Of Traditions needfully added into the Canon of Scripture OUr Adversaries under a specious pretence of following in the Doctrine and practice of Faith Gods word alone contained in Scripture seek to overthrow amongst Christians all true belief and Religion for admitting what scriptures they list themselves and interpreting them as they please is in effect to have a Religion of their own making no lesse absurd than if in Kingdomes and Common-wealths Subjects were permitted to interpret laws of themselves without admitting Judges to determine of them or any authentical Declaration of them so as every man may to his own advantage in suits and controversies expound them and defend any cause how bad and unjust soever it be by them And that pretence of Protestants to believe nothing which is not either expressed in Scripture or by a clear immediate consequence gatherable from it is a false brag and purposely devised to exclude the Churches teaching and deceive ignorant people unable to note how ungroundedly and without sence many times texts of Scripture are cited by them to prove their own and impugn our doctrines insomuch as the Catholick and learned Pastor of Chaventon a place alotted unto the Hugonits neer Paris hath in sundry Volumes discovered the fraudulent proceedings of Protestants about maintaining points of their Religion and particularly shewed that no point thereof can be without false Glosses of their own convinced out of Scripture For example when S. Paul affirmeth all scripture divinely inspired to be profitable to teach to correct to instruct in justice that the man of God may be perfect He doth not say as our Adversaires falsly gather from this place that scripture alone can make him perfect in the knowledge of heavenly truth for that revealed and unwritten doctrines may serve likewise to increase this knowledge in him as when S. Paul willed the Galatians to stick firmly to cap. 1. his doctrine by writing or preaching delivered unto them and exhorted the Thessalonians to keep those traditions which either by his Epistles or by 2 Thess 2. speech they had received from him pra●sing the Corinthians for observing such precepts as he had given unto them When also against Apostolical and certain tradition they urged those texts wherein our Saviour reprehended Pharisaical and wicked doctrines teaching plainly observances against the Law of God sometimes also vain things and of no moment their arguments are meer fopperies and prove nothing against unwritten doctrines such as are the Creed of the Apostl●s the translation of the Jewish Sabbath into our Sunday the Feasts of Easter and Pentecost antiently observed not for the celebration of Jewish but Christian mysteries and many other Feasts and Fast● kept in the Church from Apostolical tradition the Baptism of Children the matters and forms of Sacraments and many other doctrines and practices of faith not expressed in Scripture Where in the mean time I will ask those m●n is it either plainly express●d or by clear consequencies gathe●abl● from Scripture that the Commandements of God are impossible to be observed that men have no free will to do good or evill that the just●st men do mortally offend in their best actions that there is no inherent justice or sanctification in us by heavenly graces communicated unto soules cleansed from sin but that all are holy by Christs justice alone apprehended by faith and imputed only unto them that each faithfull man is by an Act of faith to believe that he shall be saved no lesse surely than Christ himself that Christ dyed for none but the Elect and that others were to have no share in the fruit of his death and passion for us that Christs body and blood are not really and corporally present in the Sacrament but by saith onely that Sacraments of the new law are signes and seals of faith onely no graces are communicated at all to such as receive them and many such Protestants Tenents b●sides which have no true ground at all in Scripture for them And in this pretence of gathering and proving the faith out of scriptures onely they imitate many anci●nt Hereticks before them So Maximus the Arian as S. Austin in his first In principio book against him recounteth rejecteth the word Homousion because it was not expressed in Scripture and so did Epist 174. Pascentius as the same father recounteth and as S. Gregory Nazi●nzen relateth of Eunomius he was wont to ask his Christian Adversaries why they did name a God meaning the Holy Ghost not mentioned for such in scripture making so saith he the sacred Act. 3. writings of God a cloak of their impiety Acasius the Arian in the Councel of Selevica used the same words and so did Eutiches in the Councel of Constantinople under Flavianus asking the Fathers therein assembled in what scripture they found expressed that cap. 6. Christ had two Natures conjoyned in his Person neither could he be drawn from those words commonly used by Protestants I follow onely the scriptures and regard not the Fathers Exposition Lib. de natura de gratia cap. 39. of them The Pelagians also as S. Austin cit●th their words made profession to believe no more than Anathetisma 7. what they read in Scripture So did the Iconomachi or Image-breakers in the second Councel of Nice and the Albigenses said the same to S. Bernard Hom. 66. in Cant. as

read the life of Saint Anthony written by Saint Athanasius and of Saint Hillarion written by Saint Hierome shall see what a heavenly force they ascribed to the Sign of the Crosse either made upon themselves or in the aire against Devils in dreadfull apparitions troublesome unto them so as by the contempt thereof any man may conclude Protestants to be no good Christians or devout rememberers of Christ crucified for them The tenth Controversie Of purgatory and Prayer for the Dead CAlvin saith that with Voice Lib. 3. Instit c. 5 6. Throat and Sides together Purgatory is to be exploded as a damnable invention evacuating the death of Christ derogating from Gods mercy and causing many Scandalls and impieties to be practised amongst Christians With like fury also he condemneth Prayers for the dead calling it an abominable superstition a prophane Invocation of God an inconsiderable credulity timely he confesseth brought into the Church and so timely indeed as the Apostles themselves were authors thereof For that S. Dennes S. Pauls Disciple in a whole Chapter together declareth the manner of Christian buriall used in his time with particular prayer made by the Bishop for the party deceased And Calvin could not but know that Aerius was anciently condemned and is by S. Epiphanius S. Augustine and others ranked amongst hereticks for denying this pious and laudable custome ever used in Christs Church before him of praying for the Dead full of charity towards souls departed and no wayes tending either to evacuate the merits of Christs death or to lessen Gods mercy towards us purchased by it but rather extolling both sithen●e to satisfie his Justice and to lessen the rigour thereof against sinners and sins in this life not satisfied for by them he is contented to accept the prayers of living persons and to have Christs merits and satisfactions in severall manners as by Alms Pennances Sacrifices and other means as holy Suffrages offered for them Which made the Holy Ghost truly no doubt Machab. l. 2 to tell us that it was a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be absolved from their sinnes But by these new Doctours Scriptures themselves must be denied and all other testimonies rejected if in any part they serve to disprove their novell and groundlesse fancies For if we tell them that S. Dennis of Arepa●ogita affirmed Prayers to have been offered for the dead even in the Apostles time they will call him a counterfeit pratling Authour whom S. Gregory 1000 years since called an ancient venerable Father acknowledged by other Popes Fathers and Councels to have been S. Pauls learned Schollar and the greatest amongst Christian Divines as S. John Damascen calleth him If we tell them that ancient Tertullian Lib. de Corona milit numbred Sacrifices for the dead 1400 years since amongst Apostolicall Traditions that Origen plainly taught Hom. 6. in Exodum a purgation of Souls and by fire after death that S. Cyprian held it a different Epist ad Antonium thing for martyrs to be crowned in their deaths and for others to pay the last farthing and after lasting torments to be freed out of prison That all ancient Liturgies have prayer for the dead in them Apostolically In colloquio cum sorore de resurrectione ordained that S. Gregory Nissen taught a purgation for souls after death and so did S. Augustine in his Enchiridion and in many other of his works That S. Ambrose prayed for Cap. 110. Theodosius and Valentinian Emperours in both his funeral Orations of them that sundry ancient Fathers out of S. Pauls words 1 Cor. 3. have gathered that such as build upon Christ the Foundation stubble and straw shall come not withstanding to be saved yet so as by fire they will not to all these and other like testimonies stick to say that all these chief Fathers of Christs Church were in this point over credulous and swayed by the bad custom of their time in allowing and practising such superstitions and particularly Calvin if you tell him that S. Monica desired to be prayed for after her death and remembred at our Lords Altar will answer that it was anile votum an old womans tale and dislike S. Augustine himself for recounting it The eleventh Controversie Of Sacramentall Confession and Priestly Absolution CAlvin asketh us with what face Lib. 4. Institut c. 15. Num. 3. we can affirm Confession of sinnes to a Priest to have bin a divine Institution affirmeth also elsewhere with In Antid Sect. 6. c. 15. a notorious falshood that Confession was free to be made or not untill Innocent the third with a few horned Lib. 3. Institut 6. 4. num 17. beasts ordained this snare to make a generall intanglement of Christian people calling in another place Confession of Penitents made to their Pastors lib. 3. c. 3● num 1. c. 4. nu 12. ●●iring and tearing of mens Consciences and no lesse absurdly than Luther had taught before him he denieth the Priests to have received any greater power from Christ to absolve sinnes than all other Persons men or women onely by their age and wisdome they are able to afford direction and comfort unto such as come afflicted in conscience unto them Lib. 4. c. 1. num 21. 22. Yet afterwards changed in his doctrine he affirmeth by Christs meri●s and power of the holy Ghost this benefit of the Churches Keyes and remission of sinnes to be daily imparted unto the faithfull people by them who as Legates of Christ Lib. 3. c. 4. num 13 14. 17 18. have the ministery of reconciliation committed unto them exhorting in another place each one burthened with Sinfulnesse of his conscience to confesse them privately to the Pastor and particularly as he can remember them and esteeme it no small benefit that he can repair unto one who hath this power of reconciling souls committed unto him And from this doctrine the use of private and publique pennance hath been brought into all Calvinian Cosistories not without frequent defamings of such as fit in the stoole of pennances to be absolved of sins confessed by them Whereas in our Church men burthened in Conscience come to their Ghostly Fathers and are heard whilest they confess their sinnes charitably by them secure to have nothing revealed afterward which hath been confessed unto them So that our incarnate Lord and Redeemer never opened the inmost bowells of his mercie and bounty more widely towards us than when in his Church he erected this high Tribunal of Justice as I may well call it and mercy conjoyned ordaining Priests and Pastors of Soules to be Judges thereof with most ample Commission given unto them to absolve all Crimes whatsoever committed against him not once or twice but so often as men fall into them and came penitently to confesse them with a purpose no more to fall into them which kind of clemency was never used