Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n
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A61802
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A discourse concerning the necessity of reformation with respect to the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome : the first part.
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Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.
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1685
(1685)
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Wing S5930; ESTC R10160
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55,727
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60
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of the Law and the Gospel let him be accursed (c) Proinde sive de Christo â—ive de ejus Ecclesâ—s â—ive de â—uacunque alia re quae pertinet ad fidem vitaâ—que nostram c. Aug. contra liâ—eras Petil. l. 3. c. 6. 'T is true the Fathers in their Contests with Hereticks do frequently press them with the Tradition of the Catholick Church But then it must be remembered that the Hereticks against whom they disputed were either such as denied the Authority of the whole or a great part of the Scripture or such as insisted upon Tradition and pleaded that in defence of their Errors that therefore they might beat them at their own Weapons the Fathers confuted them by Tradition too But they never set up Tradition as another word of God or sought thereby to establish any thing as an Article of Faith or a piece of necessary Worship that they thought was not to be found in the Scripture As the Church of Rome does which under pretence of Apostolical Tradition obtrudes upon the Christian World as Matters of necessary Belief and Practice such things as are but of yesterday such things as are doubtful and uncertain such as are childish and triâ—â—ing yea such as are false and impious plainly contrary to Scripture and to Primitive Doctrine and Practice That I may not be over tedious I forbear to mention many other Errors in Doctrine and proceed to the next general Head of Corruptions 2. The Church of Rome hath not only err'd in Doctrines of Faith but hath also grosly â—werv'd from that Rule of Worship which Christ hath given us and from the Practice of the Primitive Church and set up a Worship of their own invention in direct opposition thereunto I shall instance in some Particulars First In having their publick Worship in an unknown Tongue This is expresly condemn'd by our Church as a Practice plainly repugnant to the Word of God and to the Custom of the Primitive Church (d) It is a thing plainly repugnant to the â—ord of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayers in the Church or to administer the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood of the People Aâ—tâ—cles of Religion Anno 1562. Art 24. That it is plainly repugnant to the Word of God no man can be ignorant who knows what is written in the fourteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians in which the Apostle so directly and with such variety of Arguments confutes this unreasonable Service that 't is as easie to make midnight and noâ—nday meet as to reconcile them one to the other Nor is it less contrary to the Custom of the Primitive Church That in the first Ages of Christianity every Christian Church had the publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments in their own Tongue I need not prove by citing the Testimonies of those Persons who liv'd in those Ages because the learned men of the Church of Rome do themselves confess it which is a Proof more convincing than a thousand other Witnesses Out of many which offer themselves I shall produce a few whose Authority is beyond exception Their great Aquinas grants That it was madness in the Primitive Church to speak in a Tongue not understood because they were rude in Ecclesiastical Rites and did not know those things that were done unless they were expounded But now saith he that all are instructed tho all things are spoken in the Latin Tongue they know what is done in the Church (e) Aqâ—in Comment in 1. ad Corinth c. 14. Sect. 5. Cardinal Bellarmine grants That in the Primitive times because the Christians were few all sang together in the Church and answer'd in the divine Offices but afterward the People encreasing it was left to the Clergy alone to perform Prayers and Praises in the Church (f) Bell. de â—erbâ—â—ei â—â—â— c. 16. Mr. Harding to this Exception of the Protestants S. Paul requires that the People give assent to the Priest by answering to his Prayers made in the Congregation returns this answer Verily in the Primitive Church this was necessary when the Faith was a learning and therefore the Prayers were made then in a common Tongue known to the People for cause of their further instruction who being of late converted to the Faith and of Painims made Christians had need in all things to be taught c. And again Whereas S. Paul seemeth to disallow praying with â— strange Tongue in the common Assembly because of want of edifying and to esteem the utterance of five words or Sentences with understanding of his meaning that the rest may be instructed thereby more than ten thousand words in a strange and unknown Tongue all this is to be referned to the State of that time which is much unlike the State of the Church we be now in They needed instruction we be not ignorant of the chief Pâ—ints of Religion They were to be taught in all things we come not to Church specially and chiefly to be taught at the Service but to pray and to be taught by preaching Their Prayer was not available for lack of Faith and therefore was it to be made in the vulgar Tongue for encrease of Faith our Faith will stand us in better stead if we give our selves to devout Prayer g Artic. 3. Divis 28 30. Thus we see he grants that the publick Prayers were in the Apostolical times in the vulgar Tongue and that 't was necessary they should be but nothing can be more false and absurd than the reason he gives why 't was necessary then and not now Add to these the infallible Testimony of Pope Gregory VII who tho he would not permit the Celebration of Divine Offices in the Sclavonian Tongue yet confess'd that the Primitive Church had them in the vulgar Language h History of the Council of Trent l. 6. p. 578. So that by the Confession of the Romanists themselves the Church of England has in this Point no further departed from the Church of Rome than the Church of Rome hath from the ancient Church If they can instance in any Church in the World that for above five hundred years after Christ worship'd God in a Language that the People did not understand we will yield the Cause And may it not justly be matter of amazement that for the serving of some poor worldly ends the Church of Rome should introduce a Practice that renders the Worship of God useless and insignificant That destroys not only the end of Prayer but is inconsistent with the nature of it That is so absurd and unreasonable that S. Paul thought they deserv'd to be reckon'd Mad-men who in such sort pray to God i 1 Cor. 14. 21. So evident is this that many great men of the Church of Rome acknowledge it would be better to have the publick Offices in the vulgar Tongue So Cardinal Cajetan confesses That according to the
1. Besides I say these and many other insuperable prejudices that lye against it as the matter is managed in the Church of Rome it wholly defeats its own design For what Man will be ashamed to do that which is done upon course by the best Men in their Church the Priest the Bishop yea the Pope himself not excepted And who will be afraid of the most formidable Sin when the Penance imposed for it is usually trifling and next to nothing so far from giving check that it is one of the strongest provocations to sin For what greater encouragement can a Man desire than to purchase a pardon upon such easie terms 10. I need not shew that the Doctrine of Purgatory as taught by the Church of Rome cannot derive its Pedigree either from the Scripture or the primitive Fathers because it is freely confessed by many of her own Members that it hath no foundation in either of them Yea a late learned Writer of that Church hath proved by great variety of Arguments that it is plainly repugnant to Scripture to Reason and to the judgment of the antient Church and exposed the vanity of those pretended Proofs which are commonly brought for it (d) Tho. Aug. ex Alâ—iâ—◠〈◊〉 Saxon. de media Animaâ—um statu And yet it is no wonder that the Romish Clergy so zealously contend for it that the Council of Trent hath established it and that Pope Pius IV. hath put it into the Roman Creed (e) Bull. super formam Jurament Confess Fidei because this is that by which they make spoil of the people and enrich themselves This alone hath erected and richly endowed many fair Abbies and Monasteries this hath founded many Colleges Chappels and Chantryes this hath set up and maintained the gainful Trade of Indulgences and Masses Let the people be once disabused and rightly informed in this Point Masses for the Dead will grow out of fashion and Indulgences will be despised as nothing worth For 11. The Doctrine of Indulgences is another new Article of the Roman Creed This is generally owned by the learned Romanists themselves In particular Durandus one of their famous Schoolmen acknowledges That little that is certain can be said concerning them because the Scripture speaks not expresly of them and the holy Fathers S. Ambrose S. Hilary S. Augustine and S. Jerom make no mention of them (f) De Indulgentiis pauca dici possunt per certitudinem quia nec Scriptura expresse de eis loqultur sancti etiam ut Ambrosius Hil. Aug. Hierom. minime loquuntur de Indulgentiis Durand l. 4. dist 20. q. 3. And Cardinal Cajetan grants That no sacred Scripture no Authority of the antient Doctors Greek or Latin hath brought the Original of them to our knowledge (g) De ortu Indulgentiarum si certitudo haberi posset veritati indagandae opem ferret verum quia nulla sacrae Scripturae nulla priscorum Doctorum Graecorum aut Latinorum authoritas scripta hanc ad nostram deduxit notitiam Opusc Tom. 1. Tract 15. c. 1. And no wonder because their Original bears a much later date than either the Sacred Scripture or the Authority of the antient Doctors for the learned Romanist before mentioned tells us That for ought he could find Indulgences were not thought on before the Age of the Schoolmen (h) De his Indulgentiis ante Scholasticorum aetatem quod sciam â—nspicio nulla De mâ—dio Animarum statu Demens 27. That is till twelve hundred Years after Christ and therefore no mention is made of them by Gratian or the Master of the Sentences It is true That in the Primitive Church severe and long Penances were imposed upon scandalous Offenders the rigour of which upon weighty Considerations was sometimes moderated by the Bishop and this Relaxation was called by the name of Indulgence But the Popish Indulgences are quite of another nature for they suppose a Treasure in the Church made up of the Merits of Christ and the Saints the Saints must be added to supply the defect of Christ's Merits which is wholly at the Popes disposal which therefore he dispenses to others as he thinks fit to discharge them from those Temporal Punishments to which they are obnoxious for their Venial Sins in Purgatory Nor are these Indulgences as the Practice of their Church is limited to the Souls in Purgatory and to those Punishments which are due to venial Sins only but granted to all Persons indifferently who will pay for them and for all Sins be they never so enormous To such an excess of Abomination were the Doctrine and Practice of Indulgences grown about the time of the Reformation such an intolerable Reproach were they to our Holy Religion that the more sober Romanists themselves cry'd shame on them (i) Espencaeus in cap. 1. Ep. ad Tit. Onus Ecclesiae c. 15. Eras l 30. Ep. 57. 12. Another Error and that which is indeed the main Foundation of many of those already mention'd and of many more which follow under the next Head is this That unwritten Traditions ought to be added to the Holy Scriptures to supply their defect and ought to be receiv'd as of equal Authority with them Whereas the Scriptures themselves which the Romanists acknowledge to be an infallible tho but an imperfect Rule do frequently bear witness of their own Sufficiency as to all Matters necessary to Salvation (a) Psal 19. 7. John 20. 31. 2 Tim. 3. 16. I say all Matters necessary to Salvation because we do not assert that all things belonging to Rites and Ceremonies and to the external Polity of the Church are contain'd in them except only in general Rules by which the particular Determination of them is committed to the Discretion of our Governors but we affirm that there is no Article of Faith or Rule of Life that is necessary to be believ'd or practis'd that is not either in express words contain'd in them or by evident consequence may be deduced from them so that supposing them to be the Word of God we need no other Rule in such Matters And 't is certain that the ancient Fathers were of the same Judgment I shall produce the words of S. Austin only In those Matters saith he which are plainly placed in Scripture all those things are found which contain Faith and the Manners of Holy Living viz. Hope and Charity (b) In iis quae aperte in Scriptura posita sunt inveniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque vivendi spem sc atque Charitatem De doct Christiana l. 2. c. 9. In which words he affirms not only that all things belonging to Faith and Manners are contained but that they are plainly contain'd in the Scripture And in another place the same Father says If an Angel from Heaven shall preach to you any thing concerning Christ or his Church or concerning any thing which belongs to Faith or Life besides what you have received in the Writings