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	faith_n	unwritten_a	2,785	5	12.3986	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41015	Roma ruens Romes ruine : being a svccinct answer to a popish challenge concerning the antiquity, unity, universality, succession, and perpetuall visibility of the true church even in the most obscure times, when it seemed to be totally eclipsed in the immediate ages before Luther / by Daniel Featley ...	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1644 (1644)	Wing F592; ESTC R4369	68,281	80

most part taken in the latter sense as in the creed of Athanasius whosoever will be saved must hold the catholike faith that is the orthodox faith which he there setteth down for at that time when he wrote that creed of his was not catholike in the first sense that is generally and u●●versally received if that be true which Vincentius writeth the p●…son of the Arrians did not infect only a portion of the church but 〈◊〉 a manner ●ain●ed the whole world insomuch that almost all the la●●n bishops being surprised by fraud or by force had a mist cast before their eys In neither of these two senses of the word can either your church or your faith or your persons be termed catholike Not your church for Dr. Reynolds hath long ago demonstrated in his second Thesis tha●… present Roman church is neither the catholike church of Christ nor a sound member thereof not your faith for that as I said before so farre as it differs from ours is patcht up of many heresies not your persons for they are singular or individuall and therefore cannot be catholikes that is ●●iversall Here you use to alledge for your selvs a passage out of Pacianus christian is my name and catholike is my sirname But what is this to you unlesse you could prove that Pacianus held your Trent faith when you prove that I will immediatly turn Roman catholike till you shew some affinity between your faith and his you cannot challenge his sirname catholike As for his meaning in this his elegant motto christian is my name and catholike is my sirname he alludeth evidently to the manner of the Romans and some other nations who used to give their children two names at least one common as Marcus or Cneius or Caius the other proper as Cicero or Crassus or Anthony or Pompey and the sense his words carry is this christian is a name which I have in common with all that in any sort beleeve the gospel and are neither Jews not Paynims but catholike is my proper name whereby I am distinguished from divers sorts of christians to wit all those who professe christianity in generall yet not purely but with mixture of some heresie or schismatically sever themselvs from the communion of the catholike that is the universall church and truly the name catholike in his days as also in the days of S. Austin when the hereticks were but a handfull and lurked but in corners here and there was a distinctive term for then the hereticks in regard of their paucitie could not with any colour pretend to the name catholike but afterwards when heresies became catholike that is spread over the whole face of the church and the orthodox christians were far fewer in number the title catholike ceased to be a note of distinction and the word orthodox was used in stead thereof to distinguish true beleevers from all miscreants hereticall or schismaticall PARAG. II. Concerning the attributes of our christian faith true divine and infallible Challenge That there is always one and but one true divine and infallible faith professed by the church of Christ without which none can please God or attain to salvation c. Answer When I read your preface and compared it with that which followeth I could not but think of Oretes pots sent for a present to Polycrates in which there was a little gold laid on the top and under it nothing but trash for after these two golden assertions of the unity and immutability of the true divine and infallible faith laid as it were in the top of your discourse there is nothing to be found under them but lead and trash as shall appear hereafter in the gaging it I grant there is one and but one true divine and infallible faith but you should have explicated how but one and in what sense Divine and infallible faith hath been always and is one for substance though not for circumstance all beleevers even from Adam were though not in name yet in truth christians Christ and his meritorious actions and passions were the object of their faith as well as ours but they beleeved in Christ to come we in Christ that is come we and they resemble the spies that carried the bunch of grapes on their shoulders the former who went before looked backward the latter who went behind looked forward on the grapes they looked forward with the eys of their faith on the incarnation passion resurrection and ascension of Christ to come we look backward on these as past they saw Christ in foregoing types we in succeeding sacraments Yea but it may be objected that many new articles of faith are daily declared and many new theologicall conclusions found out else how should knowledge encrease How then is the faith of the church always one For answer hereunto I will borrow Vincentius his decision what saith he is there no profiting in Christs school no growth in faith and the knowledge of salvation Yes very great but provided always that this progresse be a going forward in the same way to heaven not a turning out of the way an improvement of faith no change that is holding the same principles of faith we may and ought daily by the studies of scriptures deduce new conclusions but such as are vertually contained in those principles not such as are any way repugnant to them so long as we mutilate not our creed by dis-beleeving or mis-beleeving any article of it and whatsoever we offer farther to be beleeved we cleerly and evidently conclude from scriptures or other prime and fundamentall articles of christian religion the faith of the church is still one Secondly this faith is said to be divine in a three-fold regard 1. Of the object which is God 2. The efficient which is the spirit of God 3. The motive which is the word of God or the authoritie of the speaker which is divine and because God cannot deceive nor be deceived hence it followeth that the faith which is grounded upon his word is infallible and such is the faith of the reformed church of England one divine and infallible whereas on the contrary your romish faith is neither one nor divine nor infallible Not one for you differ one from another in many substantiall points of faith as is proved Paragraph the X. Nor divine for the last resolution of your faith is unto the church a company of men subject to error Nor is it infallible for it is partly grounded upon unwritten traditions which vary partly upon the decrees of Popes and councels which contradict one the other the generall synod held at Ariminum contradicted the first of Nice in the point of Christs deity the councell at Frankeford contradicted the second councell of Nice in the point of images the generall councell held at Lateran contradicted the generall councell at Basil in the point of supremacie and I could with a wet finger produce divers decrees of Popes out

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or rather we offer a commemoration of that sacrifice I● S. Chrys●stome had beleeved as you now do that the true body of Christ is properly offered and his blood truely shed in the daily sacrifice of the masse he should have corrected his former correction of himself and said what said I we rather offer a memoriall of Christs sacrifice nay rather we offer the very sacrifice it self Christs body and blood and that truely and properly 7. We teach that images may not be set up in churches to worship God by thē much lesse to worship the images themselvs you on the contrary maintain the erecting censing clothing kissing kneeling before and worshipping of images From which idolatry superstition how fat the church was in Constantines age appears by the canon of the councell of Eliberis the act of Epiphanius the judgement of Eusebius and the joynt testimony of Minutius Felix and Lactantius The 36 canon of the councell of Eliberis is very expresse against images and pictures in churches placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere ne quod colitur aut adoratur in parictibus depingatur It seemed good to us or we have determined that no images or pictures be in churches lest that which is worshiped and adored be painted on the walls When S. Epiphanius saw that canon neglected and the law of God violated in that poynt his zeal kind●ed within him he tare down a v●il rent it in the middle which he found hanging on the church walls at Anablathra because it had on it an image as it had bin of Christ or some saint More over he gave charge to those of that place not to hang up any more such veils against the expresse command of God Eusebius was no better affected to images then Epiphanius for in his epistle to Constantia who desired him to send her an image of Christ he contendeth by many arguments that no true image of Christ may be drawn neither according to his divine nature nor according to his humane not according to his divine because no man hath ●ver seen or can see that not according to his humane because we have learned that his humane nature or form of a servant is ●ingled with or united to the glory of his divine dignity and who will undertake with dead colours to expresse the brightnesse of that glory and dignitie Minutius Felix upon another reason dislikes the dedicating of any image to God put a● nos occultare quod credimus si delubra ar as non habemus quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam eum si recte existimes sit dei homo ipse simulacrum Dost thou think that we conceal what we worship because we have no place for images nor altars I pray what images shall I make to God seeing if we judge rightly man himself is Gods image Lactantius is warmer in the cause he concludes peremptorily that religion and images cannot stand together wherefore out of doubt there is no religion where there is an image therefore out of doubt none in your church where there are so many images for if religion be a divine thing and there is nothing divine but in things that are heavenly images therefore are voyd of religion because there can be nothing hea●enly in that thing which is of the earth The same Lactantius lib. 2. divinarum institut cap. 2. excludes all images even of the true God as needlesse and super●●uous the image of a man seems then to be needfull when the man himself i● away but it is of no use when he is present therefore the image of God is ever superfluous and of no use because his spirit and deity being every where present can never be absent from us You see he layes hard at your images and he endeavours as vehemently to blow out your wax lights They light candles to God as if he were in the dark can he be thought well in his wits who offers candles or wax lights to God for a gift who is the author and giver of all light If this strong breath of Lactantius being but single cannot blow out the lights that burn continually in your churches yet methinks the joynt and conspiring breath of all the fathers assembled in the councell at Eliberis cannot but puff them quite out It is to be forbidden that candles be publikely lighted if any do presume to do otherwise let them keep from the communion In fine to draw the arrow you have put into Constantines bow to the head against the errors and superstitions of your present Romish church prove to me by any good and uncontrolable testimony that publike service in an unknown tongue or masses without communicants or communion of the laity without the cup or making images of the three persons of the Trinity or worshipping images or crosses or selling pardo●● for the release of souls out of purgatory or elevation or circumgestation of the host in pompous procession or praying upon beads or hallowing meddals and Agnus Dei's or blessing salt spittle water c. or christening bells and gallies or going on pilgrimage to the images of Christ our Lady and other saints or whipping themselvs in penance for their own sins or the sins of others or such like customs and fites of your now Romish church were in practice in Constantine his time Prove that the treasury of saints merits and works of supererogation or unwritten traditions in matter of faith or justification before God by inherent righteousnes or any sin in its own nat●re veniall and not against the law of God but only beside it or esteeming the Apocryphall books of the old testament for canonicall scriptures or equalizing the Latin vulgat translation of the old and new testament to the originalls in Hebrew Greek or seven sacraments properly so called or the Popes infallibitie or his transcendent authority to gratifie or disannull the acts of generall councells to canonize saints to dispence with oaths and vows to depose kings and dispose of their kingdoms or the suspending the effect of the sacrament upon the intention of the priest or accidents without subjects or rats and mice eating Christs body or the putting it in many thousand places at once or any the like assertions of your Romish doctors were any part of Constantines beleef and the day shall be yours In the mean time if as your challenge and the promise of your friends deeply engage you you shall think of a reply to this my answer I require three things of you First that according to our Saviour his rule you mete the same measure to me which I mete to you by setting down my whole answers in my own words that the reader may see what you answer to each particular and what you balk as also how direct and pertinent your replyes shall be Secondly that you be not guilty of that which