Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	church_n	council_n	trent_n	1,848	5	10.6462	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12466	A map of Virginia VVith a description of the countrey, the commodities, people, government and religion. VVritten by Captaine Smith, sometimes governour of the countrey. Whereunto is annexed the proceedings of those colonies, since their first departure from England, with the discourses, orations, and relations of the salvages, and the accidents that befell them in all their iournies and discoveries. Taken faithfully as they were written out of the writings of Doctor Russell. Tho. Studley. Anas Todkill. Ieffra Abot. Richard Wiefin. Will. Phettiplace. Nathaniel Povvell. Richard Pots. And the relations of divers other diligent observers there present then, and now many of them in England. By VV.S.	Smith, John, 1580-1631.; Symonds, William, 1556-1616?; Abbay, Thomas.; Hole, William, d. 1624, engraver.	1612 (1612)	STC 22791; ESTC S121887	314,791	163

sent of him Rulers were not sent indeed but as it were sent Which is so shallow a shift that it is not worth the confuting Of like moment is the other which Innocent and the Glosse hath in the same place that it is a Counsell and not a Commandement for the Lords sake If we will supererogate we may but we are not bound Whereas it is euident to euery one that hath but halfe his eye open that Saint Peter hath the same meaning that St. Paul namely to yeeld obedience not only for feare of man and of punishment but also and especially for loue towards God and for conscience sake But I haue stood ouerlong vpon this point of the Romish Gospell touching the authority of the Bishop of that See and touching his shamelesse eluding of such places as make for the Princes Soueraignty It is well said by Optatus Cùm supra Imperatorem not sit nisi solus Deus c. Forasmuch as there is none aboue the Emperour but onely God who made the Emperour while Donatus ex●olleth himselfe aboue the Emperour he had now as it were exceeded the bounds to esteeme himselfe as God and not as man c. Let him of Rome thinke that of Optatus to be spoken to himselfe and so I leaue him for that matter What if I should now enter vpon an Antithesis betweene other points of the Romish Gospell and the true Gospell of our Sauiour Christ should there not be matter of shame and confusion ministred to our Aduersaries and to vs of glory and reioycing Their Doctrine of the Head of the Church militant you heare is carnall while they reioyce in a thing of naught and make flesh their arme also seditious while they will haue him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meddle out of his Dioces and to haue an Oare in euery Princes Boate. Now what is their Doctrine of the body it selfe the Church what of the food thereof the Word what of the badges and seales thereof the Sacraments what of the Keyes thereof the power of binding and loosing what of the exercise thereof prayer and fasting what of the life thereof Faith in the Sonne of God what of the Iustifier and Sauiour thereof Iesus Christ and that with that one bloody Sacrifice of his body and blood once for all c As Tertullian saith De praescript Ipsa Doctrina eorum cum Apostolica comparata ex diuer sitate contrarietate suapronuntiabit non Apostoli alicuius authoris esse neque Apostolici c. Their Doctrine it selfe being compared with the Apostles Doctrine by the diuersity and contrariety thereo● will pronounce that it came not from any Apostle nor Apostolike man So if wee lust to enter the comparison wee shall soone finde how much their Doctrine differeth from the Gospell and how agreeable ours is to it We teach that Christs true Church being his body and a Communion of Saints consisteth onely of such as belong to God They that it comprehendeth bad as well as good Reprobate as well as Elect They that the visible Church is discerned by multitudes and succession of Bishops c. We that it should be rather by purity of Doctrine and sincerity of ministring the Sacraments Whether truer and more consonant to the Gospell of Christ Doth not our Sauiour teach that when he commeth he shall scarsely find faith in the earth Where then be multitudes and the visibility thereof Doth not Saint Paul that after his departure there should enter grieuous Woolues What reckoning then of Succession Malè v●s pari●tum amor caepit c. Your loue that you beare to the walls of the Church is but a bad loue You doe euill to reuerence the Church by roofes and buildings c. Anné ambiguum est in ijs Antichristum esse sessurum Is there any doubt but Antichrist will sit there Montes mihi Spinae Lacus Carceres Voragines tutiores sunt i● illis enim Prophetae aut manentes aut demersi Dei Spiritu prophetabant Mountaines and Woods and Lakes and Prisons and deepe Caues are safer for me I may more safely haue recourse to them for direction and safety for in them the Prophets did either abide or being drencht there did prophecy Thus Hilary against Auxen●ius As for the Word the Food of the Church how many wayes blessed God! doe they adulterate it or make it vnprofitable and so make it no Gospell at all They equall their Traditions they call them the Apostles Traditions but while they cannot shew them in the writings of the Apostles Non accipio quod extra Scripturam de tuo infers as Tertullian saith with the written Word of God So doth the Councell of Trent yea the Decretall Epistles of the Popes Inter Canonicas Scripturas Decretales Epistolae connumerantur So hath my Gratian dist 19. in the Title and the Glosse also taketh it so I know not whether they be ashamed of it and haue corrected it in the later Editions This is one way Againe they keepe it in an vnknowne tongue as it were vnder locke and key or a booke that is sealed or if it be translated by Godly Learned men they storme as much as Alexander did when he heard that Aristotles bookes wherein he would be onely cunning were published nay as much as Herod was troubled and all Ierusalem with him vpon the newes that Christ was borne for that now their Kingdome was neere to an end They pretend that it is not well translated by our men and therefore they are so much against it but why doe not they translate it better Why in their forty seuen yeeres of leisure for so many it is since they left their Country haue they set forth the New Testament onely and that in such sort as all men may plainely see how much against their hearts it is that the people should haue any knowledge of the Word of God whereby they might discouer reproue the falshood of their Doctrine They that would not haue a Lyon or an Elephant to stirre they hudwinke them They of Mitelene when they would vse their subiects like slaues and oppresse them with tyrannie tooke order that they should not put their sonnes to schoole and that they might learne nothing witnesse Aelianus The like practice Nahash the Ammonite attempted with them of Iabesh-Gilead That if they would haue peace they must buy it with their right eyes If you will haue this applyed take the simplest of the people and make them applyers Their Kingdome is a Kingdome of darkenesse dumbe Images for their Teachers dumbe signes in the Masse for their Preachers dumbe or not-vnderstood Seruice for their deuotion c. And therefore without darkenesse and ignorance it cannot be vpholden Come we to the Doctrine of the Keyes of the Church Christ deliuered to Peter and in him to all the Apostles as Origen Cyprian Chrysostome Augustin and which not of the ancient Fathers doe teach the

good his doctrine by miracles being a new doctrine and therefore the miracles which were wrought by the Apostles and Prophets could not serue to strenghten it but onely by the sword and an arme of flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they be the words of the Alcoran that is he came not to giue the Law by miracles but by the sword and how then can such a doctrine be embraced by any saue such as are plainely bewitched or out of their wits for to vse onely naturall reason to naturall men how can God be thought to be of one mind for twenty or fiue and twenty ages together for so long he gouerned the Church by Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine then vpon the suddaine change his minde vpon the starting vp of a Start-vp neither learned nor wise nor vertuous onely he had a great Army and had some successe against the Emperour Scilicet illum expectabat liberanda veritas a likely matter that the truth should be held captiue till Mahomet set it at liberty No no the strength of Israel the God of the whole earth is no changeling neither is there with him any shadow of change He is Amen that is true and stable and though heauen and earth perish yet no tittle of the Law or Gospell shall fall to the ground till all be fulfilled God hath spoken in these last dayes by his Sonne He hath spoken by him it is not said that he will speake by any after him that will oppugne him or correct him Therefore away with Mahometisme It is enough to say of it as the foresaid Tertullian said vpon the like occasion Nobis curiositate non est opus post Christum Iesum nec inquisitione post Euangelium that is Hauing Christ Iesus we need not be further curious and hauing the Gospell we need not be further inquisitiue thus he The same reason doth militate against the Romanists who although they seeme to attribute much to the Gospell in words yet in effect they deny it For they are not content with the written Word but they stand vpon vnwritten supposed verities which they may multiply at their pleasure as well as they doe magnifie them making them to be of equall authority with the written Word so doe they of Trent speake insomuch as if we will beleeue them we shall not know what to beleeue nor what to affirme For whatsoeuer is questioned betweene them and vs touching either Purgatory or prayer for the dead or praying to Saints or praying in an vnknowne tongue or touching the Masse or Chrisme or the Ceremonies of Baptisme c. All these points and an hundred more which they can no more finde in the written Word than they can finde water in fire fire in a poole of water they poast ouer vnto Tradition appealing vnto it which is as much as if they should turne vs to seeke them vpon the backe-side of the booke For what is Tradition else but the report of men and what are men all men sauing they which were priuiledged with the priuiledge of infallibility the Apostles and Prophets I meane which neither were deceiued in matters of faith neither could deceiue but deceitfull vpon the weights and in plaine English lyers I meane subiect to error and mistaking We must take their credit for doctrines affirmed by them to haue beene preached by Christ and his Apostles fifteene or sixteene hundred yeeres agone when they cannot be beleeued touching that which themselues or their confellowes preached two or three yeeres since except there be notes kept of it nay he hath a good memory that can repeat in the after-noone as much as he heard in the fore-noone Behold we count them for no better than mad-men that will make claime to a piece of land for the which they haue nothing to shew but bare words as I heard my neighbour say this or that or mine vncle or my father c. whereas the party that they would get it from hath Euidences and Records ancient and faire without any shew of rasure without any suspition of forgery And can we thinke our Aduersaries to be well in their wits that would wrest from the Laity the Cuppe of the Lord against so faire a Record as this As oft as yet shalt ●ate of this bread and drinke of this Cuppe c Thus Saint Paul writing to the Church of Corinth consisting of Laickes as well as Ecclesiastickes also from the Cleargy they would wrest marriage against this Record Marriage is honorable in all in all persons not in all things onely as it appeareth by the An●uhesis Adulterers and Fornicators he doth not say Adulteries and Fornications And againe To auoide fornication let euery man haue his wife and euery woman her husband if Ministers be men then they may be married So further from the vn●earne● they would wrest the vse of the Scriptures they will not suffer them to vse them in their mother-tongue vnlesse they haue a Licence by as good reason they might forbid them to looke vpon the Sunne or to drawe in the ayre without a Licence contrary to the Commandement Deut. 3● When a●l Israel shalt come to appeare before the Lord thy God c. thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that they may heare it c. He was to read the Law therefore it was written he was to read it before all Israel therefore it was written for all Israel So in the Gospell When a young man would know what he might doe to attaine eternall life our Sauiour answered him saying What is written in the Law 〈◊〉 readest thou Behold he doth not send him to the ●radition of the Fathers but to the written Word that he should beleeue and liue according to that rule But now for●ou● Aduersaries i● ye hap to conferre with them or shall haue a desire to looke into their bookes you shall find that the claim● that they make by the Scriptures for any thing of moment in Controuersie betweene them and vs either touching the head of the Church or the visibility of the Church or the keyes of the Church c. is but dicis causâ for fashion-sake their sure-hold and fortresse they fly vnto is Tradition Now what is this else but to bring all things to their owne Consistory as they say and to make themselues Iudges in their owne cause and to measure themselues by themselues as the Apostle speaketh yea and to symbolize with those Heretickes whom Ticonius allowed by Augustine for this speech noteth thus to speake Quod volumus sanctum est that It is holy because we would haue it so and so it is true because they say it is a Tradition But well speaketh the same Augustine Contra insidiosos errores Deus voluit ponere firmamentum in Scripturis c. Against deceitfull errors God thought it good to place a sure foundation in the Scriptures against which no man dares to speake that would be counted

a Christian Thus Augustine And to the same purpose Chrysostome who liued but a little before him Where haue ye read this saith he Forasmuch as he hath not read it written but speaketh of himselfe it is euident that he hath not the holy Ghost And to be short Irenaeus who liued before them both shall be instead of all others To sticke vnto the Scriptures which containe Lat. are a certaine and an vndoubted truth that is to build ones house vpon a strong and firme Rocke Thus he whereby ●e ●heweth that they that build their faith vpon any other foundation as namely vpon Tradition they build it but vpon sand which will not abide the least blast oftentation nor the least push of strong reasoning but will soone fleet and fall to the ground To shew the vanity and vncertainty of Tradition let this one Story that I shall recite vnto you suffice and then I will proceed to that which remaineth In the Primitiue Church by the report of Eusebius there was a sharp contention and betweene such as would not be counted babes or obscure fellowes but Fathers and Pillars touching the celebrating of Easter The Easterne Church went one way and the Westerne another And what was the cause of their iarre The Easterne Church pretended a Tradition as from Saint Iohn the Euangelist that he forsooth should command it to be kept vpon such a day The Westerne Church a Tradition as from Saint Peter that he should ordaine it to be kept such a day vpon a Sunday by all meanes What shall we say to this were Saint Peter and Saint Iohn diuided that yea should be with them nay and nay yea No but their Disciples misse-heard them or misse-remembred them or misse-reported them and hereupon they brake forth into quarrell Now i● in the best times when many that had heard the Apostles or Apostolicke men were yet aliue when the extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost as the miraculous curing of the sicke and the casting out of Deuils c. were yet to be seene in many by the testimonies of Iustine Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian c. if this were done say I when the Church was yet a Virgin as it were by the iudgement of Polycrates in Eusebius what can we looke for in the latter perillous times when she had abandoned her selfe to Spirituall fornication I meane not onely to superstition but also to Idolatry Is any mans word to be taken that Christ spake thus or thus by his Apostles when he hath not their writing to shew Thus much against Papists Traditions now in the words that follow I pray you obserue with me how Angelically or rather Diuinely the Apostle doth mount and cause●h his speech to grow Sermo crescit in describing the Sonne of God by his estate by his Acts by his Nature Person c. He hath taught vs saith the Apostle by his Sonne would ye know what Sonne Not an ordinary Sonne such as we are but the Heire and Owner of all things nay the Creator of heauen and of earth nay the very brightnesse of Gods glory and the ingraued forme or expresse Image of his person distinguished onely in person not separated or diuerse in nature nor inferiour to him Is this all No he preceedeth bearing vp all things by his mighty power therefore not onely the Creator but also the preseruer of the world Is that all No it had beene to small purpose at least to small benefit to vs if God should make vs and preserue vs onely and there stay but that which is a greater matter for vs he hath redeemed vs by purging vs from our sinnes yea and for the full consummation of his victory and our Redemption he sitteth at the right hand of the Maiestie in the highest places from thence to oppugne our spirituall enemies and from thence to reach-out his hand to helpe vs and supply vs. And what can be spoken more fully more richly more comfortably Christ called the two sonnes of Zebedee sonnes of Thunder Augustine speaking of a certaine Sentence of Ambrose exclaimeth ô sensum hominis Dei ex ipso haustum fonte gratiae Dei that is O sense of a man of God drawne out of the very fountaine of the grace of God! Hierome calleth Hilary a Rhodan that is a most swift riuer of Eloquence Theodoret calleth Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an Ocean of Diuinity I cannot tell what I may call this third verse else but a very depth of mysteries a fountaine of Water of life that can hardly be sounded to the bottome I find that the Iewes haue a booke which they call Tse●ormor that is a bundle of myrrh that they haue another which they call Tsemach Dauid that is The branch of Dauid that they haue another also which they call Orach Chaiim that is the path-way of life False titles the bookes be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they doe not deserue such glorious names But surely he that should say that this one verse deserueth all these Elogies and Titles should not speake a whit out of the way For it is no lesse than a bundle of most fragrant odoriferous flowrs refreshing the inward man and preseruing the whole soule from putrefaction it describeth also the true branch you know Christ is called so by the Prophet Zechary so expressely that fewe places of the Scripture may be compared with i● Lastly it sheweth the path of life namely wherein our true Life consisteth to wit in the Sacrifice and bloody Offering o● Iesus Christ which purgeth vs from all our sinnes But let vs come to the particulars that remaine yet to be handled The first is that God hath made hi● Sonne Heire of all things This place is abused by two sorts of Hereticks Anabaptists and Romanists I will but point at their err●rs The former vrge Christ is made heire of all things therefore faithfull Christians onely they meane specially such as be of their stampe haue interest in the things of this world all others are but vsurpers and therefore may lawfully be stript of them But they should know that the heauens euen the heauens are the Lords the earth hath he giuen to the children of men to the children of men promiscuously he doth not say precisely to the children of God indeed he that made Abraham and Isaack rich which were faithfull and the Fathers of the faithfull made also Laban and Nabal which were prophane he that causeth the Sunne to shine and the raine to fall vpon the iust did and doth the same for the vniust Briefely he that gaue Caesar a mercifull Prince gaue before him Marius a cruell Tyrant Caesar was not to be iustled with being chosen by the people and Marius was to be stooped vnto while he had Lawe on his side Now whereas they would make their claime by Christ Christ was heire of all things therefore they rightly beleeuing in Christ are the onely true heires