Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	authority_n	holy_a	scripture_n	3,181	5	5.9823	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41017	Thrēnoikos the house of mourning furnished with directions for the hour of death ... delivered in LIII sermons preached at the funerals of divers faithfull servants of Christ / by Daniel Featly, Martin Day, John Preston, Ri. Houldsworth, Richard Sibbs, Thomas Taylor, doctors in divinity, Thomas Fuller and other reverend divines.	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1660 (1660)	Wing F595; ESTC R30449	896,768	624

not but this I am sure of that there have been too many unkind passages where the fault is your selves know But this is to be taken into consideration that God removeth them from ye as if ye were worthy of none If God send us these helps and Lampes that waste themselves to shine to us and to break and dispence to us the bread of life shall we not give them incouragement in their studies that they may go on quietly and peaceably A word is enough for that Howsoever some of ye would not suffer him to rest God hath taken him to his rest There is more might be said but I will not say too much For the other since I came from my house I had information at my first footing in the Parish they said she was as good a woman as lived At my first footing in the house they said she was a very good woman Those that have lived in the Parish they testifie that she was a woman most eminent for her piety and vertue Shall she want a memorial I asked of those that have known her of old they say she was a righteous woman for the righteousness of piety and a merciful woman for the righteonsness of mercy She had respect to both tables to her duty to God to her Neighbour For the mercy of charity she was good to the poor she was a lender to those that were in necessity and a giver too For the mercy of piety she was very compassionate to those that were in afflictions she sympathized with them visited them and comforted them For the mercy of peace in time of contention she laboured to set all strait she had a soft answer co pacifie wrath She was a merciful woman and God hath given her the reward hath took her to his rest She was a lover of peace he hath taken her to the place of peace She was one hat studied happiness and he hath taken her to a place of happiness He hath took her from these evils that we are reserved to and that we may fear That is the difference between a godly and an impenitent man Impenitent men if they be took away they are taken to further evill if they be left alive they are left to further evil Merciful men if they be took away they are taken away for the eschewing of evil and if they be left on the earth it is for the diverting of evil They divert them while they live and shun them when they die As they labour to honour God in their lives so God gratifieth them in their death he takes them to himself This consideration and occasion is a proof of the Text. As it is proved in all the Text let us disprove it in our selves that this word may never go in the course it lieth here but in a contrary course That righteous men perish and men do lay it to heart let it be said so and merciful men though they be took away yet there are those that take it into consideration I have done with the last part and with the occasion THE GOOD MANS EPITAPH OR THE HAPPINESSE OF Those that Die VVell SERMON IX REVBLAT 14.13 I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals Me thinks there is none more fit nor more ordinarily preached on than two and they are both of them voices from heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet He was commanded to crie The voyce said Cry And be said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field You will say That is a fit Text indeed So is this here A voyce from heaven too But Saint John is not commanded to cry it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to me faith Saint Luke in his preface to his Gospel Most excellent Theophilus to write to thee of these things in order that thou mightest know the certainty c. It did not please God for many generatious to teach his Church by writing The Fathers before the flood he did not teach by writing They lived long their memory served them instead of books and they had now and then some Divine revelations They needed no writing But after that the dayes of man grew short as they did in the time of Moses the man of God the dayes of our years are threescore years and ten then I say when the dayes of man came thus to be shortned it pleased God to teach his Church by writing And although the whole will of God all things necessary to solvation be written yet God did appoint some special things above all others to be written some passages of divide truths As that same history of the foil of Amalek in the wilderness Scribehoc ad monumentum saith God to Moses write this for a memorial in a book So God commandeth Isaiah to take to himself a great roul and to write in it with a mans pen. So to Exekiel Son of man write thee the name of the day even of this same day the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day And Saint John to go no further though he was commanded to write this whole Epistle and all the Visions he saw yet there is some special thing that God in a more special manner would have him to write And here is one Write this same voyce this 〈◊〉 that came down from heaven write it Though that writing addeth nothing to the Authority of the Word For the word of God is the same Word and is as well to be obeyed and as well to be beleeved when it is delivered by tradition as when it is by writing yet notwithstanding we are to blesse God that we have it written How many Divine truths have been turned into lies And how many divine Histories have been turned into fables when things have been delivered by tradition from hand to hand and from man to man Tradition was never so safe a preserver of Divine truths We are to thank God I say for the whole Scripture for every part of it for whatsoever is written is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope But what comfortable thing is this that here Saint John is commanded to write Write what Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord so saith the spirit they rest from their labours and their works follow them In the which you have five things First you have a Proposition Dead men are blessed Blessed are the dead Now because this is not generally true therefore Secondly you have a Restriction all Dead men are not blessed But who are blessed then

and perfection is not all at once nor altogether wherefore our very Apostle elsewhere Phil. 3.12 15. professeth though he were perfect in regard of sincerity and uprightness yet not so in regard of the full measure He was so in respect of Parts he was not so in respect of Degrees therefore he said that he had not as yet fully apprehended Fuit perfectus spe future glorificationis Fuit Imperfectus ●…nere Corruptionis Fuit perfectus expectatione muneris Fuit Imperfectus fatigatione Certaminis as most appositely to our present purpose p Fulgentius perfect he was in the Hope of future Glorification he was imperfect under the burthen of present corruption He was perfect in the expectation of his reward but yet imperfect being tyred under the great conflict and encounter that he had with the opposers of the Gospel of Truth compleat perfection he professed not much less may others so far inferiour unto so great and most illustrious a Saint as Saint Paul was 3. Works meritorious as they must be our own and perfect so also in their sense Indebita more than due super-erogatory transcending the Command whereas proud Catharists and brittle pot-sherds as they are they might observe what the great Law-giver hath declared in that Case Luke 17.10 When we have done all that we are able to do we remain still most defective and most unprofitable servants and have at the utmost if we could reach to that done but duty 4. Lastly Works meritorious must be proportionata ad mercedem exactly proportionable unto the just Reward but surely if as they cannot our Passions and Sufferings cannot equal the Reward much less can our Actions or our imperfect doings sweetly singeth the Psalmist God Crowneth indeed but it is in his own meer mercy and loving kindness not for any possible desert in the primest Creature yea it 's a maxime in the very Schoolmen themselves That Principium meriti prius est merito and that principlum is Gods free Grace Mercy favour So then yeild all this But How then is it free and yet a Reward of justice Answ Some answer thus namely by understanding Justice in this Text of Gods Fidelity and faithfulness in keeping promise as in that Text 1 John 1.9 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are joyned together if we confess our sins God is faithfull and Just to forgive us our sinnes And in this sense rightly apprehended its true indeed to say that its Debita merces A reward of Debt because God hath after a sort bound himself by his own promise to give it unto us Promittendo se fecit Debitorem faith Augustine he hath made himself a Debtor to his Church by promise in which only regard it is that we may exigere Dominum as he speaks urge and press the Lord upon his word so we read the Church under affliction did Jer. 14.21 Remember break not thy Covenants with us 〈◊〉 are herewith Neh. 1.8 Deut. 9.5 Others more directly give us this answer AEternal life is in respect of us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer Gratuity or free gift But in respect of the personal merit of Christ it s a reward of Justice The Lord Christ Jesus having purchased unto all his true Believers by his Humiliation and Obedience this Crown of their Imputative righteousness how imperfect soever their own personal Righteousness was And from this title of the Lord his being a righteous Judge all his faithful Servants may assuredly rest upon the Infallibility of the reward of their Service and Fidelity sith the Lords own word Equity and faithfulness is ingaged for it surely he is faithful who hath promised Heb. 10.23 nor can he fail or deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 Yea he himself is our shield and our exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 and indeed in enjoying God we enjoy all happiness and soul-satisfying Contentation wherefore it s not impertinently observed by the Hebrews that in the Essential Name of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the letters are Liter●…e quiescentes Letters of Rest to denote and without God there can be no solid joy or quietness of Soul which will still be tossed in a kind of restless inconsistency till it do indeed terminate at last in him which made that man so much after Gods own heart as in a flame of servent zeal experimentally to put the question Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee The next particular that fals under my consideration is the time of donation when this Reward is to be actually conferred expressed to be in that day and at the Lords appearing These latter times into which the ends of the world are fallen abounding as men in old age with variety of phancies have given us occasion to enquire what day of the Lords appearance it is which is here meant whether it be the great and notable day of the last general Judgment or else of some other manifestation of the Lord Christ upon earth before that last day of all doth come There are some otherwise abundantly knowing whose wits have herein proved more wanton than their Judgment sollid whose apprehensions have led them to conjecture if not to believe an appearance of the Lord Christ personally in a way of raign and triumph to be manifested upon earth a thousand years before the last day of the General Judgment such in the Greek expression are called Chiliasts and by the Latines Millenaryes some have fetched the name and conceit so high as from Cerinthus a Blasphemous Heretick even in the dayes of the Apostles themselves who daringly avouching the Lord Christ to be no more than a meer man and born after the common way of humane generation which gave occasion to Saint John that soaring Eagle to write that his so sublime Gospel wherein in the very entrance of it He proves his Divine Nature He gave out that after the resurrection there should be in the great City Jerusalem an outward way of pomp and a kind of voluptuous indulgence to corporal vanities and delights during the terme of a thousand years which opinion he was thought to have sucked from the breasts of the Jewish Synagogue that people mistaking the nature and quality of Christs Kingdome thinking it to be after an external glory and not as it is indeed consisting within in the soul after a spiritual manner ruling and raigning over the spiritual part of man but this Blasphemer being exploded and cryed down by all the Primitively-Orthodox Fathers and Christians as the Histories of those Times inform us The next who most clearly speak of it or was indeed supposed the first who more directly vented the opinion was one Papias Bishop of Hieropolis as Eusebius acquaints us a man of a weak and slender judgement who if not utterly neglecting yet but slightly valuing the Authority of the Holy

Scriptures pretended for his conceit Apostolical Traditions and by reason of the venerable name of Antiquity it is not to be denyed but that some of the ancient Fathers received some tang of the same opinion from him as may be seen or collected of Justin Martyr and in the end of Trajans time Apollinarius Tertullian too much misled by Montane and Lactantius who were in part spiced with this Millenarisme so perilou a thing it proves to the Supine and out of a secure or careless disregard to suffer Humane Tradition to become a Diotrephes and to have the preheminence above the infallibity of the undoubted Scriptures which sacred and unerring written Word of God doth hold forth as of certaine credibility inspired by the Divine and first verity that can never deceive no such clear truth that the Lord Christ shall in Person before the General Resurrection come visibly and corporally upon the earth and as by a first resurrection cause all those who died in and for him to arise and with him in a peaceful tranquility and glory to reign and to beare sway over the wicked as Vassals for a thousand years which date of time being expired immediately shall ensue the General Resurrection and the day of the last Judgement No such evidential verity is demonstrated in Holy Writ as of Absolute Necessity to be believed unto salvation But whatsoever is alledged out of the propherick Scriptures for the stablishing of that opinion is to be understood either of the first coming of Christ in the flesh or of the state of the N.T. in general or else of the glorious estate of the Church triumphant to be expected hereaster in the eternal Kingdome for ever in Heaven as Gerard judiciously I have not time to alledge or you patience to hear on this occasion the several Texts cited by the Chiliasts or of the Orthodox many reverend and renowned Divines have eased us all of that labour let it suffice at the present to take notice from our Saviours own lips that his Kingdome is not of this world John 18.36 but within us Luke 17.21 and from Heaven and besides we find in our Creed which is founded on the Scriptures and may in every article thereof be proved by them we find I say in our Creed mention made but of two visible comings of Christ the first in Humility to suffer and to be judged the other at the end of the world but not before in the glory of his Father to judge the world both quick and dead in righteousness and unto them that look for him faith the great Apostle shall he appear the second time without sin that is without suffering any more as a sacrifice for sin unto salvation Heb. 8.28 Leaving then those Millenarian conjectures to such as abound with leisure rest we in the solid determination of Orthodox and stable judgements who resolve by the day and by the appearing here mentioned in this text to be meant the last great day of the general Judgement according to that Scripture Acts. 17.31 and the Lord Christ his second coming upon that day in glorious Majesty unto the judgment of all the world so that however those who labour in the Word and Doctrine meet often with so great discouragements that they seem to labour all in vain and spend their strength for nought as the Prophet speaks Isa 46.4 yet surely their Judgement is with the Lord and their work that is the reward of their work is with the Lord his goodness is laid up for them O how great Psal 31.19 In the mean time let it be our delight and contentment that we do our Masters work not as by constraint but willingly sith indeed such a vertuous service ever carryeth its own reward with it as being a thing to be desired and embraced for its own worth and certainly that sweet comfort and complacency that a righteous soul findeth in the sincere discharge of this duty within its proper station in conscience of God is infinitely more valuable than all the treasures the earth can afford without it only as the Husbandman we may not anticipate the season of the Harvest but we must wait and then in due time we shall reap if we fant not Gal. 6.9 Heb. 10.36.37 and when the reward actually cometh it being so large will abundantly recompence all our work yea end all our patience too sith the manner of it will be the more manifest and conspicuous before all in that great day when all of all sorts both great and small shall upon the general summons stand before the last Tribunal and then upon the appearance of the Chief Shepheard we shall raceive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5.4 Hereof S. Paul had a particular assurance in his own person when he faith Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness and if for him why may it not be also possible for others to be in like manner assured of the same especially provided that we are such as do love his appearing This question I confess is solid yet such as wanteth not its intricacies The Roman Catholicks in this controversie are wont to resolve thus that indeed for so great a Saint as S. Paul was this assurance might be possible yea was attained to by Revelation extraordinary by means of his sides privilegiata his special and priviledged faith which as an Apostle and a chosen vessel of honour he was endowed and adorned withall from Heaven for that God had a great service for him to do who was selected as it were to take up the Gauntlet in the quarrel of the Gospel against the manifold fierce and potent Adversaries of the same so that as I said in the beginning to steel his resolution with the greater courage he was fortifyed before-hand and armed with an extraordinary assurance of a glorious reward after his work and warfaring therein was over But now whether this assurance be possible for an ordinary Christian by the use of ordinary lawful means to attain is the next disquisition To which the resolution is affirmative the thing is possible though confessedly very difficult and this possiblity is both Certitudine Objecti and also Certitudine Subjecti both as it is sure in its self as it is determin'd by God and likewise in the particular evident and special experience of the same in the soul of a true believer and this is proved partly from those Scriptures which exhort unto a diligent endeavour after it 2 Pet. 1.10.2 Cor. 13.5 Now the nature of Evangelicall precepts and exhortations in a contradistinction to those of the Law is that they carry a spirit a secert energy vertue and power with them inabling through grace unto observation therefore the Gospel is called life and spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 and I can do all things