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	find_v	scripture_n	3,607	5	6.0436	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95370	A sermon preached before Sir P.W. Anno 1681. With additions: to which are annexed three digressional exercitations; I. Concerning the true time of our Saviour's Passover. II. Concerning the prohibition of the Hebrew canon to the ancient Jews. III. Concerning the Jewish Tetragrammaton, and the Pythagorick Tetractys. / By John Turner, late fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge.	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1684 (1684)	Wing T3318AB; ESTC R185793	233,498	453

which is best preserved and most edifyingly delivered to the common people as nigh as may be in the very words which it may be supposed the divine Pen-men themselves had they been to interpret their own books into English or any other Modern language would have used so there are also matters of Faith and Practice The first of which as containing mysteries above humane comprehension ought to be delivered as exactly as is possible in the very words of the inspired Writers to doe otherwise being either to pretend to explain those things which cannot be explained or to make mysteries of our own instead of delivering those of God and Religion And then as to the rules of life and practice they can never appear in a more Authoritative or becoming garb than in that which God himself hath put them neither can the native simplicity and beauty of the Gospel that peaceable and gentle temper which it breathes from it self and is apt to inspire into all that converse with it be any way so advantageously and so profitably represented to the world as by every man's perusing the Gospels and Epistles for himself by reading the very Sermons of our Saviour himself and the advices of his immediate followers and Apostles in those very words or their equivalents in which they were delivered Ninthly Though it cannot be deny'd when we have so many and so sad experiences to convince us of the truth of it that the reading of the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar tongue is attended with many inconveniences from the perversness the design or the ignorance of men yet those inconveniences neither are nor can be so great as that they ought to stand in any degree of competition with the salvation of the souls of men which are of infinitely more price and value than any other consideration whatsoever Tenthly These inconveniences are not so great as those to which not only particular persons but Religion it self is exposed by the contrary extreme that is by keeping the Bible lockt up in an unknown language which is in it self and has been found by experience in the Romish Church to have been the cause of all those monstrous Idolatries and Superstitions all those absurd Fables and foolish Traditions with which that communion is at this day polluted and which instead of being so zealously practised and so eagerly pursued after by the Votaries of that way would by the light of Scripture if they were to take their measures from thence be sufficiently detected and proportionably abhorred which is not only manifest from the repugnancy of the Scripture it self to such abominable trumperies and wicked impositions upon the belief or practice of men but also from the separation of the reformed Churches from that of Rome which proceeds altogether upon Scriptural measures and cannot be justified upon any other pretence and still in all ages ever since the corruption of Christianity by the Romish artifices from its first simplicity into a fardle of absurdities and innovations those gainfull impieties have been proportionably detected as there was more or less of Evangelical light and truth shining forth in the world Eleventhly There never can any so great inconvenience happen by a promiscuous use of the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar tongues which may not in a great measure if not altogether be remedy'd by the strict and impartial severity of wholesome Laws and where Laws do not govern the outward practices of men though they have nothing to doe with private opinions while they remain such and do not walk abroad there the government must of necessity be dissolved and all the banks of order and society must give place to a deluge of Enthusiasm and Fanatique madness Twelfthly There can no mischief or inconvenience follow upon a publique allowance of reading the scriptures in the vulgar tongues if there be but such restraints laid upon the practices and opinions of men as are of absolute necessity to the peace and security of every Commonwealth and if thus much may not be allowed if every man shall be permitted not onely to reade the Scriptures but to interpret them as he pleases and to practise in consequence of his interpretation so prodigious are the follies so strong the prejudices so rash and inconsiderate the zeal so wicked and detestable the designs of abundance of men that if this be the true English of Gospel-liberty if this be that liberty which Christ came to purchase for us and which he hath entailed upon every follower or disciple of his then his followers though agreeing in this That they all acknowledge him for their head and leader will yet be at as great strife and variance among themselves nay and perhaps at greater too than if they had been destitute of such a common guide who by such an ungovernable unbounded liberty of interpretation speaking no certain sense but accommodating himself in all things to the follies prejudices and designs of ignorant or wicked men will instead of being the Prince of Peace and the healer of all breaches and animosities among us prove the certain and infallible cause of infinite misery and distraction to the world FINIS The Second EXERCITATION Concerning the true Pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton or four lettered Name of God among the Jews As also concerning the Pythagorick Tetractys and other Philological matters that have a connexion with it A Ben Ezra in the Introduction to his Paraphrase upon the Book of Esther tells us the Samaritanes were used to worship Asima insinuating thereby that they were Idolaters though this indeed be but a Rabbinical Equivocation and is rather a confession in behalf of those whom he would pretend to accuse that they were Worshippers of the true and onely God that made Heaven and Earth and all that therein is For what is Asima it is either At h shema that is Hashem the name of God among the Jews or it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him whose name cannot be expressed in its true sound and pronunciation and so is the same with the shem hameporash or if it be not an Equivocation it is a downright Falsehood for it was not the men of Cuth as the Jews call the Samaritanes but those of Hamath that worshipped Ashima but the Cuthites Idol was Negal 2 Kings 17. 30. and though all the several Nations there mentioned verse 31. may in some sense be comprehended under the general name of Samaritanes as being all transplanted by Salmanasser into that Country which from Shomron the Metropolis was usually called Samaria yet it is manifest that it was but a very small part of them that worshipped this Idol Ashima and therefore Aben Ezra cannot free himself from the imputation either of an Equivocator or a false Accuser There is also a certain Hebrew Gentleman the Authour of a Book called Toledoth Jeshu or the Book of the Generations of Jesus who is so kind to our Saviour as to acknowledge that he was acquainted with the sed

which being equally commanded by God himself were of equall obligation as to their performance with any of the rest of which no such Typicall account can be given And therefore the reason of their Institution can only be this That since every thing must of necessity be done with some Ceremony in some Place or Time or Order or Gesture or Manner and Circumstance or other it pleased God for the avoiding of Confusion and for the preservation of an uniform and orderly way of Worship which would otherwise be exposed to perpetual change disturbance and alteration to adjust and determine the particular circumstances of those indifferent matters because considering the perverseness of some mens minds and the diversity of their several fancies and humours such changes and alterations could never happen without a considerable breach of Charity and Friendship among men which must needs be a wonderfull Obstruction as well to the interest of the Civil State as to all the religious Performances and Duties both as to their devotion in themselves and as to their acceptance with Almighty God If therefore the nature of Mankind be still the same under the Gospel that it was under the Law if the reasons for the necessity of Uniformity be the same now that ever they were in former ages if the method of this Uniformity be not adjusted by God himself under the Gospel as it was under the Law and if this Uniformity cannot be obtained unless the Church be invested with a right and power of prescribing the terms of it than it follows plainly as hath been already observed that the Church must be invested with such a power because else it would want the necessary means of its own unity and preservation which every Society must be supposed by the Laws of nature and reason to be invested with and if the Church be invested with such a power then all its Members are under an indispensable obligation to obey it because that Power which may be lawfully disobey'd is no Power at all And this is sufficient to vindicate the exercise of Ecclesiastical Censures And if you demand further Whether it be lawfull for the civil Sanction to interpose in behalf of the Church to see that its Orders and Injunctions be duly and faithfully executed and obey'd I answer that it is for this plain reason because the Civil Power has a right of exacting all kinds of lawfull Obedience from its subjects and this obedience if it were not Lawfull could not be enjoyned by the Church it self But besides the express provisions of the Law of Moses it self there were also several pretended traditions of Moses from Mount Sinai there were likewise the determinations of their Wise men in controverted cases the Decisions of the Tannaim and the Amoraim and of the Schools of Hillel and of Schammai the two so much celebrated but disagreeing Founders of the Pharisaick Order For which Traditions and Determinations of their famous Masters the Jewes had usually as great if not greater Veneration than for the Law it self and they were at length swell'd into so vast a bulk that like the Missals and the Rituals of the Romish Church at this day which are so full of Ceremonies burthensom in their number frivolous and superstitious in their use they ate out the very life and heart of true Religion as our Saviour himself in several places of his Gospel with no less Justice than severity complains The Heathen World had also their Sacred Offices prescribed by a certain Form as well before as under the Law And the same is the case with the Mahometan and Pagan Idolaters at this day which Ceremonies of theirs though for their number they be intollerable to a devout Soul which cannot suffer it's self to be so far taken off from the more inward and substantial part of Religion though in their nature they be mostly foolish and in their use Superstitious and in their design Idolatrous as being directed to a false object yet as well these as the Jewish Formalities do prove thus much by the common consent of Mankind that an Uniformity in the outward circumstances of Divine Service is necessary to the more due and solemn performance of Religious Worship and to the publique peace and quiet of the World What is the reason that at this day the French Persecution against the reformed Religion and its Professors rages with so much violence and fury thorough all the spatious Territories and Dominions of that mighty Monarch Shall we think it is a Zeal for the Catholique Religion as they are pleased to call it that is for a Fardle of absur'd ridiculous and blasphemous Superstitions that inspires so wise and powerfull a Prince with so mean thoughts of Cruelty and Revenge Shall we think he acts upon a principle of Conscience who has sufficiently discover'd to the world by his insatiable thirst after Empire which cannot be purchas'd without the price of Bloud that he has no other principle of action than that of a boundless appetite of Rule and Greatness Shall he be thought to act upon a principle of Duty and Religion who makes destructive and depopulating Wars without giving a reason and violates the faith of Peace by arbitrary Dependances and unwarrantable Claimes Who conquers more by the peremptory Decrees of his late erected Chambers than by the conduct of his Generals or by the numbers discipline and valour of his Armies What therefore can be the true cause and motive why he that glories in the blessed title of the Most Christian King should yet notwithstanding persecute Christianity it self What else can be the true reason of all this Cruelty and seeming Madness but that he wisely considers that the true way to Empire abroad is by unity and peace at home that a Kingdome divided against it self cannot stand and that these differences of Religion as they have done already in the experience of that Kingdome as well as ours will some time or other prove the occasions of great disorders and commotions in the State And shall we not then make use of the same wisdome for the support of Christianity which is with so much diligence and zeal made use of by others for its Extirpation For Popery is either no Christianity at all or it is Christianity wrapt up and hid in such an heap of Ceremonies and Superstitions that it can hardly be discerned Is it worth our while to contend about Ceremonies when we are losing the Substance to squabble and fall out about indifferent things when our Religion and our Liberty our temporall and eternall Interest lye at stake If the things prescribed be indifferent and consequently lawfull why do we not show that they are so by complying with them If the quarrells raised about indifferent matters do yet notwithstanding rise as high as those which are agitated between the Papists and us about matters of a necessary and unalterable nature why do we not cement and compose these unhappy breaches by