Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	faith_n	find_v	scripture_n	1,889	5	5.9425	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25404	The pattern of catechistical doctrine at large, or, A learned and pious exposition of the Ten Commandments with an introduction, containing the use and benefit of catechizing, the generall grounds of religion, and the truth of Christian religion in particular, proved against atheists, pagans, Jews, and Turks / by the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews ... ; perfected according to the authors own copy and thereby purged from many thousands of errours, defects, and corruptions, which were in a rude imperfect draught formerly published, as appears in the preface to the reader.	Andrewes, Lancelot, 1555-1626.	1650 (1650)	Wing A3147; ESTC R7236	963,573	576

stand and as Chrysostome If darknesse be upon the tops of the mountains there must needs be mist in the valleys Before we leave this vertue of knowledge it will be needful to adde a little concerning 1. The Object of this knowledge and 2. Such Rules as are to be observed in the use of means to attain it 1. The Object is God and his Son Christ Jesus Of God the Father we read That no man hath ever seen him and Moses could see but his back parts and when he did see them he hid his face and was afraid It is sufficient then for us to know him as he is revealed to us in his word and in his works and because our knowledge is to be referred to his worship and obedience therefore so much is necessary for us as that without which we cannot worship and obey him more particularly we are to know him in the unity of his Essence and Trinity of person as also what he is to us by creation providence redemption and what he requires of us to be done Therefore it is said They shall know that I am the Lord their God which brought them forth of the land of Egypt that I may dwell amongst them And in another place God proclaims himself by his Attributes The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands c. Besides which knowledge of God in his nature and attributes actions and relations to us we are to know what we are to do for him namely we must have the knowledge of his will both in regard of the general duties what all are to do and in respect of every one of us in a particular calling what every one of us is to do in our several rancks and callings 2. Now concerning the rules to be observed if we would come to this knowledge it is well said of the Heathen Ponenti 〈◊〉 ponenda sunt media means are to be appointed to him that hath pitcht upon his end In the use of which means the order stands thus 1. Impediments must be removed 2. The rules of direction must be observed 1. The Impediments to be removed The first is according to the Wise mans rule To 〈◊〉 from evil company and to keep our feet from the paths of those whose feet run to evil such as do lactare homines entice men to evil and therefore as he speaketh in another place Cease to hear their instruction that cause to erre from the words of knowledge And the Instructions that cause us to erre or the impediments in that kinde that are to be removed are two fold 1. In our selves 2. Without us 1. Within us besides diverse others is our own reason which must be rectified else it will much hinder us we must not do according to that which is set down in Deuteronomie The doing of every man that is right in his own eyes and as the Apostle Walking in the vanity of our own mindes And in this case we must cast down our imaginations all our strong holds and high mountains of carnall and corrupt reason and bring them into captivity and obedience as in the mysterie of the Trinity and the other high mysteries of faith 2. The impediments without us are 1. Taking religion from our fathers onely by tradition by inheritance as left to us by our Elders Such things as our fathers taught us we will do Our rule in this must be Scrutamini Scripturas search the Scriptures and receive nothing by tradition where we finde it contrary to this rule 2. It is said of Jehoshaphat that he sought the Lord of his fathers and walked in his commandments and not after the trade or doings of Israel The custom or fashion of the place or times is an impediment without us which must be removed except it agree with our rule for there are evil times as the Prophet speaks and what fashions the people then used he shews the verse before You shall not go haughtily faith another for the times are evil And there are perilous times as the Apostle calls them where evil examples and fashions by many are followed but these we must leave The rules of direction in the use of means follow next in order of which because the means have been formerly handled we will speak the lesse And 1. for them that desire to attain to this knowledge this is a rule They are to have a firm perswasion that this knowledge is absolutely necessary That it is the unum necessarium which our Saviour tells Martha of 2. That as Christ also said first seek the kingdom of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all other things shall be added so this knowledge is to be sought after in the first place for we have no warrant that our other studies shall be sanctified or other knowledge prosper without this but if we look after this first sanctification of the other will follow Vacate according to Saint Jeromes translation et videte quoniam ego sum Deus saith the 〈◊〉 Be at leasure spend some time to know that I am God we must finde a time and that time must be our first it may be at other times this knowledge will not be found Saint Paul gives counsel to man and wife not to come together for a time that they may give themselves to fasting and prayer If then we must abstain for a time from indifferent things then a majore from things not indifferent but evil when we spend our time not onely aliud agendo but male agendo as 〈◊〉 saith not onely in things impertinent but evil The Athenians what other busines soever thy had yet they spent some time to tell or hear novelties And it were a shame to us if we should not do more then they in a thing so necessary Diligence in attaining it is also to be used that we loose not this time Saint Augustine gives a rule though a favorable one which may serve till a better come Satis reputatur quis facere cum tantum facit pro Deo quantum facit pro mundo If a man spend but as much pains for God as he doth for the world it is sufficient And I wish we would do that bestow but as much diligence in Gods Laws as on the poenall Laws of a prince For all the statuts of Omri are kept saith the Prophet and all the works of the house of Ahab and ye walk in their counsels we might attain to some knowledge if we would take that pains to study Gods Law which we take to do evil If any of you want wisdome saith the Apostle let him ask of God And Solomon the wisest among the sons of men saith that it is a point of wisdome to know whose gift it was how to attain to it and therefore in the

thing required in every law and so in this is the manner how it must be done which by learned men is much dilated We will reduce them all to three things We are to do it 1. Toti 2. Totum 3. Toto tempore or Semper 1. Toti as Jacob said to Rachel you know that with all my power I have served your father and no doubt but he would yeeld as much service to God as he did to Man 2. Totum with our whole souls and bodies we must endeavour to keep the whole Law not as Naaman did keep it by halfes but as Noah who did all that the Lord commanded him about the Ark. 3. Toto tempore not for a time onely but all the dayes of our life Noah was 〈◊〉 tempore justus righteous all his life and Abraham was juvenis senex idem the same man in his age that he was in his youth Now for the Reward or Punishment which are the two other things required in a law it stands thus That if a man break one part of the law the commanding part it is impossible that he should escape the other part the sanction which bindes over to punishment Therefore God hath taken order that though men can over-reach the law in one part that is in contemning it yet on the other part punishment shall over-reach them So saith S. Augustine Aut faciendum aut patiendum quod debemus we must either do what we should or suffer what is due And this was known before the giving of the law That God was righteous and the people wicked It was the confession of a wicked Egyptian King And both reward and punishment were set before Cain If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted And if thou doest not well sin lyeth at the door Like a savage Bear or Mastiffe-dog or a Blood-hound So long as thou keepest within doors that is as the Fathers expound it as long as thou livest thou mayest happily escape punishment for thy sin but whensoever thou goest out of the doors out of this life then vae tibi he will flye upon thee then this Blood-hound will never lose the sent till he have brought thee to perdition and destruction More directly for the Reward it s to them that doe well 1. For temporal benefits in this life Because Joseph feared God the Lord made all things prosper under his hand 2. And secondly for eternal benefits felicity after this life Enoch was 〈◊〉 to everlasting life because he walked with God For punishment t is to them that do evil First temporal punishment in this life as we see in the case of Adam Eve Cain and Josephs brethren but especially in Pharaoh which made him cry out as we heard before Justus est Dominus c. The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked It was his sin drew those temporal plagues upon him 2. And secondly eternal punishment in the life to come So we read of the Spirits in prison for being disobedient in the dayes of Noah who preached repentance to them so that they were condemned for transgressing the law of God preached by Noah CHAP. XVI That the moral Law of God written by Moses was known to the Heathen 1. The act or work was known to them as it is proved in every precept of the 〈◊〉 yet their light more dimme in the 1. 2. 4. 10. S. Pauls three rules of Pie sobrie juste known to them 2. They knew the manner of performance Toti Totum Semper 3. They knew the rewards and punishments AND thus we see that Gods written Law which is Natures Law hath all those conditions that any Law should have For this Law which was before Moses was nothing else but Moses's Law in the hearts of men as if a man would get a thing by heart that is not written For what Laws then they had from GOD they kept in their hearts by tradition But now peradventure they will say that these Laws and the four Rules appear onely in the Scripture and were observed by the Jewes and those mentioned in the Scripture onely but other Heathen took no notice of them nor used them by the light of Nature and therefore think themselves not bound to them but are at liberty to use or not use them To this we say that by the writings of the Heathen themselves it appears that they had these rules written in their hearts and received many of them the son from the fathers ascending even to Noahs sons Sem Ham and Japhet though in some of the Commandements it may not seem so plain as in the rest for in every Commandement they introduced some corruptions of their own heads and declined diversly from Gods Law First for six of the Commandements it is manifest as the 3. 5. 6. 7. 8 9. the more obscure are the 1. 2. 4. 10. 3. For the third Commandement It was a law among the Egyptians Perjuri poena capitali plectentur let the perjured be punished with death as Diodorus Siculus reporteth And it was the law of Rome in the 12 Tables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swear not rashly And Sophocles saith that when an oath is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul will be more cautions to sin against God and to injure man 5. For the fifth Homer saith of one that had a misfortune that it came quia parentes non honoravit because he honoured not his parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would not render the duty of a childe to his father therefore his dayes were not prolonged and another saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live well and nourish thy parents in their age And Menander saith that he which honoured his parents shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live long and happily And for superiours Charondas said in his laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neglect of our aged parents is extremity of wrong 6. For the sixth there is no question every Nation held it as a Canon of their Law Homicida quod fecit expectet Let a murtherer expect losse of life as he deprived another of it and therefore they all punished murtherers with losse of life 7. For the seventh it was the saying of Licurgus Fuge nomen Moechi si mortem fugies Avoid adultery so shalt thou avoid untimely death and Stephanus out of Nicostratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that will live in this city and not dye let him abhor adultery And Menander censureth adultery as a sin disgraceful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the price of it is death 8. For the eighth Demosthenes against Timocrates alledgeth plainly the Lacedemonian law in the very words of this Law Thou shalt not steal And He siods precent enjoyneth men not to possesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stolne goods but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given by Gods providence 9. For the ninth it was one