Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	basil_n	council_n	sess_n	71	3	15.3777	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25225	The additional articles in Pope Pius's creed, no articles of the Christian faith being an answer to a late pamphlet intituled, Pope Pius his profession of faith vindicated from novelty in additional articles, and the prospect of popery, taken from that authentick record, with short notes thereupon, defended.	Altham, Michael, 1633-1705.; Altham, Michael, 1633-1705. Creed of Pope Pius IV, or, A prospect of popery taken from that authentick record.	1688 (1688)	Wing A2931; ESTC R18073	87,445	96

place informs us for saith he St. Paul here stirs up Timothy to be solicitous in preaching himself and to make choice of others who were fit for that work and therefore he saith The things that thou hast heard of me among many Witnesses i. e. confirmed by the Law and the Prophets and the Hagiographa or other sacred Writings the same commit thou to faithful Men who shall be able to teach others also i. e. to Men of a sound Faith who shall be fit by the example of holy life by their Knowledge and by their Eloquence to teach others also Now what relation this hath to Traditions or why this Gentleman brought it in as a proof of them I cannot devise These are all the Scripture proofs which he offers for Traditions but he hath a Reserve of two passages out of two of the Fathers to make good the Reer The first of which he tells us is to be found in Epiphanius Haer. 61. in these words 'T is necessary to admit of Traditions for all things cannot be found in Scripture and therefore the holy Apostles delivered some things in writing and some by Tradition How far this will serve the end he aims at is now to be considered That in some cases it is necessary to admit of Traditions was never denied by us nor did we ever affirm That all things are to be found in Scripture nor do we deny but that the Holy Apostles did deliver some things in Writing and some by Tradition i. e. by word of Mouth But we deny that it is necessary to admit of Traditions i. e. unwritten Traditions in all cases or indeed in any unless it can be made appear that they have been universally received by the whole Church in all Ages And we do affirm that though the Scriptures do not contain all things yet they do contain all things necessary to be believed by us in order to our Salvation And though we do not deny but that some things were delivered by the Apostles in Writing and some by word of mouth yet we do deny that what was delivered by word of mouth was either besides or against what was written by them What was delivered in writing hath been carefully preserved we have it before our eyes and are sure of it but of those things which were delivered by word of mouth some we are sure have been lost as for instance Those many other things which Jesus did mentioned by St. John c. 21. v. 25. and the cause of the hinderance of the coming of Anti-Christ mentioned by St. Paul 2 Th. 2. That Records are a much more faithful keeper than Tradition appears by these instances those few that were written being still preserved and believed and those infinity that were not written being all lost and vanished out of the memory of Men. And seeing God in his providence hath not thought fit to preserve the memory of them he hath freed us from the obligation of believing them for every obligation ceaseth when it becomes impossible You will not you dare not say that God would suffer any thing to be lost that was necessary to Salvation nor can you deny but that he hath suffered these Traditions to be lost and therefore the Knowledge or Belief of them though it were a profitable thing yet is it not necessary And if so then with what face can you require us to assent unto this Article upon pain of damnation when we have no footsteps or print remaining which with divine Faith we may rely upon All which considered may we not truly say That Epiphanius here if rightly understood is neither for them nor against us For we say with him that it is necessary to admit of Tradition in some but not in all cases We acknowledge also that the Holy Apostles delivered some things in Writing and some by Tradition and when any thing is made appear to us to be of Apostolical Tradition and delivered by them as necessary to Salvation we will enquire no farther but will readily admit and embrace it His next Authority is taken out of St. Gregory Nyssen l. 3. contra Eunom p. 126. where he tells us these words are to be found 'T is a sufficient proof of our Doctrine that we have received it by Tradition from our Ancestors it having been left us as an Inheritance by the Apostles and convey'd down to us by a continued Succession of the Faithful in all Ages I see nothing to all this but what without any scruple we may readily assent to Gregory Nyssen says It is a sufficient proof of our Doctrine that we have received it by Tradition from our Ancestors And who these Ancestors were he tells us in the next words It having been left us as an Inheritance by the Apostles So then the Ancestors here spoken of were the Apostles and the Tradition here mentioned was what was left us as an Inheritance by them Now what was it that was left us as an Inheritance by the Apostles but only the Doctrine of Christianity contained in their Writings which Doctrine hath been convey'd down to us by a succession of the Faithful in all Ages i. e by Universal Tradition That this is the sence of this Father in this place is plain from his own words and is agreeable to the way and manner of speaking among the Fathers by whom the Gospel it self and the whole Religion of Christ is frequently called A Tradition De praescription advers Haereticos Concil Constantinop 6. Act. 4. Eadem Actione Basil de Spiritu Sancto 2 Th. 2.15 So the Articles of our Faith are by Tertullian called An old Tradition So the Faith of the Holy Trinity in the Council of Constantinople is called A Tradition And the Faith of two sundry Natures in Christ in the same Council is called The lively Tradition of the Apostles So St. Basil calls it A Tradition To believe in the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And in this sence St. Paul calls the Apostolical Doctrine A Tradition This is all that he produceth in the behalf of Traditions Now whether he hath hereby proved that the Romish Doctrine of Traditions is according to Scripture and the Sence of the Primitive Fathers I leave the Reader to judge His next Effort is to make good the latter part of this Article touching all the other Observances and Constitutions of the Church And here we might reasonably have expected that he should have told us what those Observances and Constitutions are which we are required to admit and embrace But that is not the way of the Church of Rome she expects that her votaries should rely upon her guidance and conduct with an implicit Faith and observe her Dictates with a blind Obedience And therefore the Vindicator here like a dutiful Son of such a Mother never stops to us what is required of us but without more ado goes about to prove That whatsoever those Observances and Constitutions are it is our duty

properly so called as necessary to be received and believed by all Men in order to their Salvation as the Articles of Pope Pius IV. Bulla Pii 4ti apud Concil Trid. are declared to be or else the force of his Argument is quite lost For if they be only Articles of Communion such as are necessary only for our admittance into and our peaceable and orderly living in that Society of which we are Members then are they no Additions to the Apostles Creed which only contains Articles of Faith. And that they are so will evidently appear if the Church of England may be but allowed to speak for her self Art. VI. She will tell us That the Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Art. VIII And she will further tells us That the Three Creeds the Nicene the Athanasian and that commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be received and believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of holy Scripture But when she speaks of her own Articles she tells us they were agreed upon and designed for this end and purpose viz. For the avoiding of diversities of Opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion It is a scandal therefore upon the Church of England to say that she ever thought it lawful to add to the Apostles Creed or that it was in hers or in the power of the Church of Rome or of all the Churches in the World to make or coin any one new Article of Faith. Which if it be true then will it be a very hard task indeed to justifie Pope Pius IV. who hath added XII new Articles as necessary to be received and believed by all Men in order to their Salvation To bring off this Prelate as well as he can our Vindicator tells us That these Articles were collected by him at that time in opposition to the then broach'd Errors of Luther and Calvin that in so doing he is warranted by Primitive practices and that the Articles do not contain any new Doctrine but only a Declaration of that to be the true and Orthodox Doctrine of the Church which was really so antecedent to that Declaration And therefore saith he We have now only to enquire Whether the Doctrine propos'd in the profession of Pius IV. be according to Scripture and the sence of the Primitive Fathers if it be not they do well that reject it but if it be the noise of Additional Articles will be but a weak justification of those that have made a breach in the Church on this score That these Articles were collected in opposition to some pretended Errors of Luther and Calvin and that it was the practice of the Primitive Church when any Error or Heresie was raised against any point of received Doctrine to condemn the Error or Heresie and the Abettors of them and to declare the opposed Doctrine to be Orthodox is readily granted But Whether the Doctrine delivered in these Articles be new or old is the thing now in question The Vindicator undertakes to prove that it is according to Scripture and the Sence of the Primitive Fathers which if he do then we must own our selves to blame but if he fail in it then notwithstanding this his Vindication he must if he be ingenuous acknowledge that we have just cause to withdraw from their Communion upon that score The Profession of Pope Pius IV. I steadfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and other Observances and Constitutions of the Church IN this Article there are III. things which we are required to admit and embrace I. Apostolical Traditions II. Ecclesiastical Traditions III. Other Observances and Constitutions of the Church As for the first of these viz. Traditions truly Apostolical and universally own'd for obligatory through all ages we are ready with all due Veneration and profound Reverence to admit and embrace them We are well assured that the Apostles were Men divinely inspired and whatsoever Doctrine was delivered by them or whatsoever Rules of practice they did prescribe to be perpetually observed in the Church were no less than the Dictates of unerring Wisdom and therefore to contravene or not comply with them if they be sufficiently propounded to us would be great impiety But if we do not receive every thing as a Tradition truly Apostolical which is pretended to be so we ought to be excused by the Imposers If we are told as we have been by some of the Romish Writers That the whole Canon word by word as it is now used in the Mass came directly from the Apostles Or That the Apostles appointed their Orders of Monks Or That Christ was the Captain and Standard-bearer of Monastick life Or That private Mass Half-Communion Purgatory Pardons Indulgences and I know not what else are all from the Apostles This will want a confirmation and till we have it we must beg leave to suspend our belief and crave their pardon if we do not admit or embrace it as a Tradition truly Apostolical The next thing we are required to admit and embrace are Ecclesiastical Traditions Now those are either such as have been universally received by the Church in all Ages or are recommended to us by the present Church only The former of these we have a very great regard and reverence for are willing to admit and embrace them Sess 4. de Canon Script Contra Crescon Gram. l. 2. c. 31. Aug. ad Hieron Epist 19. and to give them the next place in our esteem to Scripture Tradition But we cannot be so complaisant nor so far comply with the Council of Trent to receive them with equal affection and reverence We think with St. Aug. That it is no injury to St. Cyprian to distinguish his Writings from the Canonical Authority of the holy Scriptures And with the same holy Father We think That the Jugdment of St. Paul alone is to be preferred before that of all the Fathers taken together The latter of these viz. The Traditions of the present Church though we have a very great esteem and value for them yet without a strict examination how far they agree with Scripture and Universal Tradition we cannot so readily admit and embrace them For as St. Hierom in his time said so we say now Those things which Men invent of themselves Hieron in 1. c. Agg. Proph. as it were by Apostolical Tradition without the Authority and witness of the holy Scriptures are confounded by God. The third thing we are here required to admit and embrace are All other Observances and Constitutions of the same Church If by Church here be mean the Catholique Church of all Ages whatsoever is made appear to have been an Observance or Constitution thereof we shall