Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	concern_v	faith_n	scripture_n	2,167	5	6.0411	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20440	A conference with a lady about choice of religion	Digby, Kenelm, Sir, 1603-1665.	1638 (1638)	STC 6844.4; ESTC S116634	26,633	148

goodnesse of God to permitt those persons that most affectionatly seeke him and who for his sake out of pure deuotion and desire of contemplating truth doe abridge themselues of all other wordly contentmēts to haue theyr vnderstandings worse blynded with false doctrine then other men that seeke him more coldly and care lesse for him and to haue their wills more depraued then theirs with erroneous and false deuotion as of necessity it would follow theyrs were if the doctrine that the Catholicke Church professeth were not true and the holy Ghost resided not in it to worke those effects Now on the contrary part lett vs make a short inquiry whether it be probable that the late pretended reformers haue beene illuminated by God in an extraordinary manner to discouer truth which they say hath for many ages layen hidd Surely if any such thing were they would haue expressed in they re manner of life by some extraordinary sanctity and excellent actions and supernaturall wisedome that extraordinary cōmunication which they would persuade vs they had with the diuinity For as by a radiant beame of light shining in at the chinke of a window wee know assuredly the sunne beateth vpon it although we see not his body soe likewise there should haue broken out frō them some admirable and excellent effect whereby wee might rest confident that the diuine sunne illuminated theire vnderstanding and enflamed they re will Moyses when hee came downe from the mountayne where hee soe long conuersed with God expressed euen by the luster glittering from his face that it was not an ordinary or naturall light which had shined vnto him the Apostles when they were replenished with the holy Ghost receiued immediatly the guift of tongues and a cleere intelligence of all the Scriptures whereby they made cleare vnto the auditors the obscurest passages of them and continually wrought miracles and all those that euer since them haue introduced the Gospell into any country where formerly it was not receaued haue still had thyre commission auctorised by the same seales and shall our late particular Reformers be credited in theyr pretended vocation and in theyr new doctrine that shaketh the very foundations of the faith that hath beene by the whole Christian world for soe many ages belieued and deliuered ouer from hand to hand when as nothing appeareth in them supernaturall and proceeding from a diuine cause This Madame is as much as I shall trouble your La withall vpon this occasion which indeed is much more then at the first I intended or could haue suspected my pen would haue stollen from mee The substance of all which may be summed vp and reduced to this following short question namely whether in the election of the faith whereby you hope to be saued you will be guided by the vnanimous consent of the wisest the learnedst ād the piousest men of the whole world that haue bene instructed in what they belieue by men of the like quality liuing in the age before them and soe from age to age vntill the Apostles and Christ and that in this manner haue deriued from that fountayne both a perfect ād full knowledge of all that ought to be belieued and likewise a right vnderstāding and interpretation of the Scriptures as farr as concerneth faith the true sense of which so farr is alsoe deliuered ouer by the same tradition Or whether you wil assent vnto the new and wrested interpretations of places of Scripture made by late men that rely meerely vpon theire single iudgement and witt too slight a barcke to sayle in through soe immense an Ocean and whose chiefe leaders for humane respects and sinister ends not to say worse of them made a desperate defection from the other maine body since which tyme noe two of them haue agreed in doctrine and among whom it is impossible your ladyshipps greate iudgement and strong vnderstanding should finde any solide stay to repose securely vpon and to quiett all those rationall doubts that your perceing wit suggesteth vnto you And here Madame I shall make an end hae●ing sincerily and as succinctly and playnely as I can deliuered you the chiefe considerations that in this affayre turned the scale of the balance with mee which in good faith I haue done with all the simplicity and ingenuity that I can expresse my sense with being not at all warmed with any passion or partiality nor raysed out of my euē pitch and temper with any spirit of disputation or siding humor which few haue auoyded vpon this subiect but I haue giuen you a true picture of my seriousest and saddest thoughts and resolutions to my selfe in this most important busynesse wherein you will belieue I would take the greatest paines I was able to be sure not to be deceiued I haue not sought to show wittinesse or acutenesse of learning in the debating of these points or haue affected polished langage in the committing them to paper for this matter should not be handled for oftentation but for vse and though peraduēture if this discourse should fall into the view of some learned man hee may at the first sight sett but a slight valew vpon it yett I perswade my selfe whosoeuer he be if hee will ponder it seriously and leasurely and with a like interior recollectiō as I at the first setled the grounds of it in my owne soule he will then finde it toucheth the life of the matter and though I haue not deliured my conceptions smoothly and well yett hee will not thinke his tyme lost in reading them and hauing stronger parts then I hee will make cleerer vse of them then I haue done This I am sure of that allthough I haue sett this downe for your La in 2. or 3. dayes for it is noe longer since you commanded me to doe it yet it is the production and result of many howers meditations by my selfe or rather of some yeares and how drye soeuer they may appeare to your La at the first yet I dare promise you that vpon your secōd and third readings and reflexions vpon them they will gaine more credit with you and you will I know by such application of your thoughts vpon them enlarge and refine what dependeth of the maine heads far beyond any thing I haue sayd For such is the nature of notions that are wrought like the silke wormes ball of ones owne substance they afford fine and strong threads for a good workman to weaue into a fayre peece of stuffe whereas they that like bees doe gather hony from seuerall authors or that like Aunts doe make vp their store by what they picke vp in the originall crude substance from others labours may peraduenture in their workes seeme more pleasant at the first taste or appeare to haue a fayrer heape at the first view but the others webb is more vsefull more substantiall and more durable I beseech God of his grace and goodnesse in this life to enlighten your La vnderstanding that you may discerne truth and to dispose your will that you may imbrace it and in the next to giue you part among those glorious Apostles Fathers Doctors and Martyrs that deriuing the same truth from him haue from hand to hand deliuered it ouer to our tymes FINIS