Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A18055
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An ansvvere made by Oliuer Carter, Bacheler of Diuinitie: unto certaine popish questions and demaundes
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Carter, Oliver, 1540?-1605.
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1579
(1579)
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STC 4697; ESTC S108169
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79,017
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198
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aboundaunce of his spirit vpon all Iewes Turkes Infidels and Papists that they may imbrace the glad tidinges of the Gospell and become obedient children vnto the maiestie of almightie god Where wee haue peculiar charge in our seuerall congregations wee exhorte with Iohn Baptist all men to repentaunce Wee say with the Apostle That wee are messengers from Christ to moue the people to be reconciled vnto God that we are feâowe laborers to beseech them not to âeceiue the grace of God in vaine shewâng that nowe is the accepted time and the daye of saluation in the whiche the God of all mercies doth offer them âardon of their sinnes for Christes sake âhough they be neuer so manie in numâer if they wil repent beleeue the gosâel We haue no warrant in Gods woorde â which ought to be the square or rule to ââreât all Christians to claime or chaleng ânie such authoritie ouer other nations Christ our sauiour doth denie that superiâritie vnto the Apostles saying It shall âot be so amonge you In deede your Church of Rome doth vsurp this that shee âs aboue all other Churches that all natiâns doe owe their obedience vnto hir and âhat all Kinges and Emperours doe owe âheir subiectioÌ vnto hir as in Peters right âou haue sought and doe seeke the same suâeriority as appeareth by the sayinge of Frederike the Emperour vnto Pope Alexander the thirde most tyrannically treading vpon him and setting his foote in his neck Non tibi sed Petro This submission saith the Emperour belongeth not to thee but to Peter To whom the Pope answered Etmihi Petro It is both due vnto me to Peter The like proud behauiour shewed Pope HildebraÌd vnto Henrie the fourth Emperoure who caused him his wife and his sonne to attende and wayte three dayes three nights barefoote and barelegged before his pallace at Canntium or he would vouchsafe to speake with him But to let these thinges passe of which like examples the histories be plentilull which doe argue the ambition and tyrannie of your church As you haue made oftentimes this offer That if such suche thinges coulde be prooued you would recant So say I againe vnto you if you be willing to play the Proctoures part in the behalfe of your church of Rome and proue these high dignities which shee doeth challenge by the worde of God not onely I but manie thousandes will ioyne handes with your church But you shall neuer bee able to proue by the scriptures that God either in the olde or newe Testament âath promised to establishe anie suche one âhurche in earth which shoulde appeare in âutwarde pompe and externall shewe to âe viewe of the whole worlde continually â endure by orderly succession of anie Apoâolike man in one place or to be of suche âuthoritie maiestie in earth that it might âequire the obedience of all nations sumâoning and citing them vpon paine of exâmmunication to appeare at her generall âessions or Councelles called by her Nay âther the churche of God as I haue declaâd before hath beene for the most part subâct to persecutions of smal countenance â the eyes of man and so small that oftenâmes shee coulde not bee seene as in Elias is time it playnely appeareth as also in âe time in which our sauiour Christ was âuersant here on earth But of this matter â haue spokeÌ at large in other places You âeme to take it as grauÌted to you that you âaue authoritie to call all nations to your âuncells yet it appeareth by the ecclesiâticall histories that you haue no such priâledge or commission but that of right it apperteineth to the temporall magistrate Constantine the great being Emperour ouer all the world did call and summon generall councellâ for the establishing of true religion without the consent of the Pope For so a good writer affirmeth Constantine saith he as if he had bene a common Bishope appointed by God called together councels of gods ministers and disdained not himselfe to sitt in the middest of theÌ to be partaker of their doings Your owne Popes in like manner doe confesse this For Pope Leo writing vnto Theodosius the Emperoure hath these woordes All our Churche sayeth he and our Priestes most humblie beseech your maiestie with sobbes and teares that you will commaund a generall concell to be holden within Italie I do not deny but that your Bishopps of Rome traueled earnestly that no councell shoulde be called without their consentes and to haue this prerogatiue of calling councells but yet they coulde neuer bring it to passe vntill they had gotten the Emperoures heads vnder their gyrdelles and that appeareth by the saying of Pope Pius 2. otherwise called Aeneas Syluius who âdoeth also note the inconueniencie whiche woulde insue thereof By these authorities saith hee they thinke them selues armed that say no councell may be kept without the consent of the Pope Whose iudgement if it should stand as they woulde haue it would drawe with it the decaye and ruine of the Church for what remedie were there then if the Pope him selfe were vicious destroyed soules ouerthrewe the people with euell examples taught doctrine contrarie to the faith and filled his subiects full of heresies ⪠should we suffer all to goe to the Diuâll ⪠Verely when I reade the olde âtories and consider the Actes of the Apoâles I finde no such order in those dayes âhat only the Pope should summoÌ councels And afterwardes in the time of Constanâtine the greate and of other Emperoures when councells should be called there was âo greate account made of the Popes âonsent Moreouer he saith that before âhe councell of Nice eche Bishope liued seâerally and little regard was then had to âhe Church of Rome But concerning âhefe titles wherewith the woord of God dooth beautifie adorneth the true Church of God calling her The spouse of Christ the dearelie beloued of Christ the citie of God c. Let the scriptures Gospel of Christ it selfe conteined in the olde newe Testament be iudge in this matter whether these titles doo belong and appertaine to your Church or vnto ours Our Church affirmeth Christ Iesus onely to be the heade of the Church his Spouse your Churche dooth affirme the Pope to be her head our Church dooth not mainteine any doctrine Sacrament or any tradition which is not grounded vppon the doctrine of Christ and expresly set foorth in the holy Byble your Church dependeth vppon the decrees of man dooth teache such ecclesiasticall ordinances and constitutions to be of equall authoritie with the Scriptures of God setteth foorth fiue Sacramentes more then euer Christ ordeined and corrupteth the other two Sacramentes onely appointed by Christ for these fiue Sacramentes deuised by your church of Rome were brought into England by Otho the Cardinall in the raigne of King Henrie the third in the yeare of our Lord. 1236. To conclude our Church dooth feede Christes people and flocke with
foresaide states in their gouernement and ministerie And if he can proue vnto me that their Churche hath neuer lacked the same appointed officers or that anie other Churche or congregation besides oures hath alwayes kept that charge and I recant Answeare TRuth it is that Christ gaue some to be Apostles some Prophetes some Euangelistes some Pastoures and teachers but where doe you reade that our Sauiour Christe euer promised all these functions to continue successiuely to the worldes end Shew vnto me anie which was called apostle or prophet after Christ his Apostles Saint Paule the blessed Apostle maketh mentioÌ of false Apostles which alwaies withstood the doctrine of the Gospell maintained the ceremonies of the Lawe and the inuentions of their owne braine and set them selues opposite vnto the true Apostles and if you will claime your succession from them I will easily agree vnto you There hath bene Preachers and teachers at all times saue onely when they haue bene kept vnder by your tyrannie which haue preached Gods truth and reproued your grosse Idolatrie whom your Church hath alwaies persecuted vnto death and euen vntill this time there hath bene and are Christians in Graecia and Asia which haue euerâââe and doe yet vtterly detest the Pope the head of your Church with all your deâââs and traditions But shewe mee in one place I pray you of the Scripture where euer Christ promised anie such succession to continue in all ages Yâ were so that the truth of Gods worde â the functions in Gods Church should âceed alwaies by ordinary succession tâ you had a good foundation to builde yâ succession vpon Then Christ our Sauiâ by right should not haue controuled â Scribes and Pharesies which satâ Moses chaire which bragged of succeâon as well as you doe saying We are the seed of AbrahaÌ we are the disciplâ of Moses vnto vs God hath made â promisses as for Christ we knowe nâ from whence he came And therefâ they asked Christ By what power he dâ such thinges who gaue him that auâthoritie and so they might very well haâ said in respect of their outward successioâ For so Annas and Caiphas were Bysâops aswell as Aaron But that warniâ and admonicion which Saint Paule gaâ vnto the congregation of Ephesus toucâing succession might satisfie you I know this saith he that after my departingeâ there shal greuous Woolues enter in amoung you not sparing the flocke moreouer of your owne selues shall mâ arise speaking peruerse thinges And againe he saith That true faith cometh not by succession but by hearing not the Bishoppe of Rome but the worde God. Yf Christ had appoynted anie such succession would he haue forewarned vs that desolation of abhomination should sit âââhe holy place and that Antichrist should ââârude him selfe into the roome of Christ If you looke well about you you haue no cause to glory in succession for that by your writers sufficient is spoken to discredit your succession for one saith That many Popes haue fallen into heresies that Hildebrand in whose time defection froÌ the faith tooke place was charged by a generall councell to be an adulterer a Churchrobber a periured person a maâqueller a sorcerer and an apostata Another calleth the Popes monsters and ãâã shapen creatures If your heade and chiefe of your Church be such what shall we iudge of the rest I wil take for proofe of your succession euen the confessioÌ of Pope âdrian the fourth Succedimus non Peâââo in pascendo sed Romulo in parriciâââo We succeede saith he not Peter in âââeding but Romulus in killing To be ââât what auaileth the succession of your Church vnlesse you coulde prooue that she hath alwayes mainteined the doctrine of Christ For Saint Augustine saith Thaâ many doo giue the outward marke of a Byshop to wolues and be wolues them selues That the truth of Gods woord maâ be the touchstone of lawfull succession giuâ eare to the godly councell of a learned father It becommeth vs saith he to obeâ those Priestes in the Church which hauâ their succession from the Apostles anâ together with the succession of their Bishoprikes according to the good wil oâ God the father haue receiued the vndoubted gift of the truth An other being pressed with the like succession saith If any of my predecessors haue not obserued and kept the same that our Lorâ hath taught vs both by his example anâ also by his commaundement his simplicitie may be pardoned but we if we doâ the like can hope for no pardon beinâ now admonished and instructed of ouâ Lord. And comparing all other Churcheâ with the primatiue âhurch the same fathâ saith If the pipes of the conduit whicâ before ran with abundance happen â faile do we not vse to search to the heaâ The Pristes of God keeping Gods commaundementes must doo the same that if the truth haue fainted or failed in any point we returne to the original of our Lord and to the tradition of the Gospel and of the Apostles that thence wee may take the discretion of our dooings from whence the order it selfe and originall first began Thus muche concerning the succession of your Church hauing no warrant by Gods woorde Papist 6. AND for the necessarie vse and execution of the foresaide offices they must further bee asked what sacraments the ProtestaÌts ministred for the space of a M. yeares together in which they confesse their congregation to haue beene neare or wholly hidde what correction or discipline they kept for offendors to whom they did preache their heresies Where did ãâã principall pastor sitte in iudgement âââre did they gather as in a councell âââye the trueth in doubtfull matters Hââe might Christian men iustelie ofâââd with some of their Bretheren haue sought out your officers or congregation to make complaint of him or how if it lacked any man to haue beene baptized of them or to haue receiued the communion of them or haue ioyned them selues in faith and religion vnto them How might I say that coâtemptible and vnknowne companie haâ beene found out in this case If therefoâ you can shewe me that euer anie man sougâ iustice or knowledge of truth sacramentâ faith or anie helpe of saluation at the Proâstants secret and close Church or anie othâ where else but of Gods knowne Catholâ Church And I recant Aunsweare 6. TOuching Sacramentes we finâ two appoynted expresly by the worâ of God namely Baptisme and the Lorâ Supper The one doeth signifie our neâ birth and regeneration that as by watâ the filthe of the body is washed cleane through faith in the bloud of Christ oâ soules are clensed from all sinne and wâ are incorporat and ingraffed into the bâ of Christ and made members of his boâ of which he is the onely head the other doâ put vs in remembraunce that Christ Iâsus is our spiritual foode and sustenaunâ that he is the celestial Manna which came downe from Heauen and