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	receive_v	scripture_n	3,204	5	6.0081	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66289	The principles of the Christian religion explained in a brief commentary upon the church catechism. By William Wake, D.D. rector of St. James Westminster, and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty.	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1699 (1699)	Wing W258; ESTC R217651	113,834	200

former of which we have Received the Scriptures of the Old from the latter those of the New Testament Q. How do you know that these Books were written by the Assistance of the Holy Spirit A. By the Authors who wrote them who were doubtless no less inspired in what they Wrote than in what they Taught of the Gospel of Christ. 2. By the Design of God in the composing of Them which was to leave thereby a Constant Infallible Rule of Faith to the Church in all Ages of it 3. By the Opinion which all Christians from the time that they were publish'd have had of Them and the deference which upon that account they have paid to Them And lastly By the Subject-matter of Them and those internal Marks of Divine Wisdom and Piety which are so conspicuous in all the Parts of Them Q. Do you look upon these Scriptures as the Only present Rule of your Faith A. I do Nor is there any Other certain Foundation on which to build it Q. What think you of the Tradition of the Church A. Could I be sure that any thing not contain'd in the Scriptures came down by a certain uninterrupted Tradition from the Apostles I should not except against it Nay I do therefore receive the Holy Scriptures as the Rule of my Faith because they have such a Tradition to warrant me so to do But because there is no such Tradition for any thing besides therefore neither do I build my Faith upon it But on the contrary do suppose that by the Providence of God the Holy Scriptures were purposely written to prevent those Doubts those Forgeries and Deceits which his Infinite Wisdom foresaw an Oral Tradition would always have been liable unto Q. Can the Holy Scriptures alone make your Faith perfect A. They Can Nor ought I to believe any thing as an Article of my Faith which is not to be found in them or cannot plainly be proved by Them Q. What do you think of the Church's Definitions A. That I ought to submit to them in whatsoever they define agreeably to the Word of God But if in any thing they require me to believe what is contrary to the Word of God or cannot be Proved thereby I ought absolutely to reject the One and am under no Obligation to Receive the Other Q. But is not this to make your self wiser than the Church A. No by no means but only to make the Word of God of more Authority with me than the Word of Man Whilst I chuse rather to Regulate my Faith by what God has deliver'd than by what Man Defines Q. Are the Holy Scriptures so Plain and Easy to be Understood that every One may be Able to judge for Himself what he ought to Believe A. In Matters of necessary Belief they are very plain even to the most Ordinary Christian Yet we do not deny but that every Man ought to hear the Church and attend to the Instructions of those who are the Pastors of it Only we say that neither the Church nor its Pastors ought to teach any thing as an Article of Faith or Require any Man's assent to it as such that cannot be shewn to have been either expresly deliver'd in the Word of God or by a plain and necessary Consequence be Proved thereby Q. But how shall the Unlearned be able to know what the Scriptures propose seeing they are written in a Language which such Persons do not understand A. By Reading them in their Own Vulgar Tongue into which every Church has or ought to have them faithfully translated for the Benefit of Those who do not understand the Languages in which they were Composed Q. Do you then think that the People ought to be suffered promiscuously to Read the Holy Scriptures A. Who shall forbid Them to Read what was purposely designed by God for their Instruction The Scriptures are as much the Voice of the Apostles and Evangelists to Us of these Times as their Preaching was to those of the Age in which they lived And it may with as good Reason be Ask'd Whether we think the People ought to have been promiscuously Suffer'd heretofore to hear the Apostles Preach as whether they ought to be Suffer'd promiscuously to Read their Writings Now. Q. But amidst so many Things as the Holy Scriptures deliver how shall the People be able to judge what is necessary to be Believed by Them A. Let them Believe All they meet with there and then to be sure they will Believe all that is necessary But for the sake of those who either want Ability to Read or Capacity to judge what is most necessary in Point of Faith to be known and profess'd by Them the Church has from the beginning collected it into a short Summary which every Person of Old was Required both to Know and assent to before he was admitted into the Communion of it Q. What is that Summary of which you speak and which you account to comprehend all the most Necessary Articles of our Christian Faith A. It is commonly called The Apostles Creed not that the Apostles Themselves Composed it at least not in the very Form in which we now have it but because it seems to come the Nearest of any to the Apostles Times and does with the Greatest Simplicity of Expression comprehend a short Summary of the Apostles Doctrine Q. What mean you by the Word Creed A. It is the same in Latine as Belief in English And it is so called in both from the first words of it I BELIEVE and which in Sense though not in Expression Run through every Article of it SECT VI. Q. REhearse the Articles of your Belief A. I Believe in God the Father Almighty c. Q. You said that those Words I BELIEVE were not only the First Words of your Creed but the most Material as running in effect through Every Branch of it Tell me therefore what do you mean when you say I Believe A. To Believe in the General is to Assent to the Truth of any thing upon the Sole Authority of the Person who delivers it Who if He be a Man only the Assent which I give to what He says produces in Me a Humane Faith if as here He be God then the Assent which I give to what is deliver'd by Him is properly a Divine Faith Q. What is the difference with respect to Us between these Two A. It is very Great For because a Man though never so Wise and Careful himself may yet not be honest and so Impose upon Me Or should he be never so Upright may yet after all his Care be Mistaken himself and thereby lead Me into Errour therefore in Assenting to what such a One proposes I can at the most give but such a Belief to it as is suitable to a meer Humane Testimony I may Believe what he says to be True but yet so as not to exclude a Possibility of its being Otherwise Whereas God