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	scripture_n	write_v	3,423	5	6.0492	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06810	Timothies taske: or a Christian sea-card guiding through the coastes of a peaceable conscience to a peace constant, and a crowne immortall. Wherein I. Pastors are put in minde of their double dutie, and how to discharge it. 1. Personall, as watchfull men. 2. Pastorall, as faithfull watchmen. II. True doctrine is advanced. III. Traditions discountenanced, & their rancour discovered. In two synodall assemblies at carliell, out of two seuerall, but sutable scriptures. This of I Timoth. 4.16. and that of Actes 20.28. Since concorporate, and couched with augmentation vnder their prime head: By Robert Mandevill, sometimes of Queenes Colledge in Oxford, and preacher of Gods word at Abbey-holme in Cumberland.	Mandevill, Robert, 1578-1618.; Vicars, Thomas, d. 1638.	1619 (1619)	STC 17245; ESTC S102562	61,931	80

heaven much lesse Antichrist regreet wee ought not to be troubled thereat sithence the spirit of God doth not content himselfe with so plaine an affirmation thereof but to beat the absolutenesse and all sufficiency of Scripture into mens braines and breasts hee repeateth the thing againe more fully then before being made perfect or throughly furnished May not the matter for all this be yet minced and this perfectiō or through furniture meant of most good workes To all good workes required of mā to doe Haue the Scriptures God their author Afford they all things necessary to soundnesse of faith and sinceritie of life in their vse Is the end of their transmission to posteritie by writing to make mē absolute so absolute that there is no good worke wherewith God is pleased which hee requires in those whom he will saue but they instruct him in it and how to doe it Then wee are content that this errour of the Scriptures perfection should close our eyes desiring no other no safer conduct then they reveale to that celestiall Elysium Sedes vbi fata quietas ostendunt Where the rich man saw Abraham and Lazarus in his bosome Let all such as cannot be content with the Scriptures direction goe as farre as they can Non equidem invideo miror magis Beyond all perfection for the further they goe the fuller assurance of Gods favour they forfeit the more frequent feeling of that loue and kindnesse which is better then life it selfe they forgoe because they goe from God We seeke not we wish not to be wise or perfect aboue the folly and imperfection of that which is written that is for higher wisdome or perfection then that which leadeth to life it rightly so called life eternall Thy word saith David is a lanthorne vnto my feet a light vnto my path Ps. 119. 105. The light of the lanthorne descries the evill we are to decline By the guidance of this light we may bee led forward to the practise of all good What thought is there of mans heart which may not hence be established if doubtful subdued if headstrōg What words idle or evill are not here reproued and may not be reformed And wherewithall shall a young man in whom affections most rage and raigne clense his way What sorrow so great or maladie of minde which the tongue of the learned may not hence allay what infirmity bodily or affliction worldly may not mans spirit be taught hence to sustaine Here is the season of salt the force of fire the defence of armour the nourishment of meat the solace of marriage of spoiles the profit of victorie the pleasure of light the direction of musicke the delight the sweetnes of hony and the hony combe In heavinesse it cheares vs in wandrings recalls vs giuing health to our bones peace to our liues content to our soules The faithfullest coūseller strongest supporter best interpreter of strange evēts and heavenliest moderatour of crosse occurrents Further since the matter of our practise without the right maner of performance is but a carcase of religion without a quickning spirit the Scriptures make knowne vnto vs that mans deed in Gods matters is but a desire at most an endeavour which endeavour must bee thus conditioned 1. Sincere for he with whom we haue to doe requres truth in the inward parts 2. Serious or earnest for heaven is the hold which none surprise saue such as will take no nay 3. Setled or constant because he that is holy must bee holy still 4. Vniversall or entire for whosoever shall keepe the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guiltie of all Now what more sit rule or perfect square can be found to frame the Lords building by then that which laies the foundation in sinceritie reares vp the walls in fervency covers the whole by constancy and keeps it holy by entire obedience Their madnesse hereby appeares the more who accuse the scriptures of want and imperfection to the ende they may peice and patch them vp with their vnwritten verities indeed lying vanities traditions or rather as a compleat and a most acute diuine calls them contradictions Which first Preiudice yea frustrate Gods purpose in penning the Scriptures These things are written that your ioy may be full Againe these things c. Ioy is the companion and salvation the end of faith No ground of sollid peace true ioy can be wanting where fulnes therof is found to spring and the meane is not imperfect which begets a perfect faith nor doth that faith frustrate which brings salvation The Evangelist S. Luke wrote not of some only but all things which he had searched out perfectly yet no other then the Apostles were witnesses and Ministers of to Theophilus that he might knowe the certaintie of those things wherein he had beene instructed 1. Lukes diligence which was not perfunctorie 2. The successe that perfectly 3. The extent that all 4. Their authoritie that no other then the Apostles themselues delivered 5. The estate of the person to whom they were dedicated Theophilus who before had heard and been instructed in them 6. The state of the time wherein Theophilus lived hauing himselfe heard beene taught of the Apostles 7. The end of committing these things to writing which was to cōfirme him in the things he knew convince plainely 1. That not only that which the Apostles taught as necessary to salvatiō is writtē 2. But also that the writing of such things is more necessarie on our parts who heard not the Apostles preachings instructions as he did 3. And to beleeue and embrace nothing of things necessary as Apostolical which hath not scriptū est for the best warrant They falsifie such attributes as confirme the same Is not grace an infallible earnest of glorie By the word wee are brought and stablished in this happie state else why is it called the word of grace Seeke we more then life By the light of this Lanterne we are led thereto Else were it mis●earmed the word of life Desire we better things thē such as doe accompanie salvation it reveales the same and how to attaine them Else should the spirit delude the Church Need we more or other food then that which nourisheth to life and it eternall And if when we were enemies wee were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne much more being reconciled by the ministers of the word wee shall be saued by his life Either these titles are vntruths or the Scriptures containe all necessarie truth for reformatiō of life and sincerity of beleefe Admitting them we cānot beleeue the scriptures which purposely and peremptorily forbid all additions of men Ad thou not vnto his words least hee reproue thee thou be found a lyar which trade of lying and making of their owne if with the popish crew it were

the same things which he receiued from his mouth Had Timothie so ●iven a head that Paul beganne so soone after his departure to distrust his memorie could he so soone be carried away with errour or worldly cares who had dedicated his childhood to devotiō Might not Timothie his asseveration whom they well knew to haue beene taught by Paul and left to that end for some space amongst them might not the bare affirmatiō I say of his doctrine to be Apostolicall and suckt as it were from Pauls teat haue supplied the place of an Epistle to authorize his person stablish his doctrine as well for after as present times Certes the Apostle might haue spared his pen and paines if he had beene Iesuited in this point touching the authority of vnwritten traditions Did the Apostles Prophets and Euangelists all guided by one spirit propose to themselues the same end in writing that they had in preaching the message of life it is more then plaine that they did If mans perfection in this life and eternall saluation in the next was the marke whereat they aymed in both then why should some onely of things necessarie be registred and other of the same nature and like necessitie be exposed to neglect oblivion corruption discountenance of times the moathes which bred in the Apostles owne traditions and encumbred them vpon the absence of their persons Rash and inconsiderate actions are incident to mans weake improvident spirit the omniscient spirit of God doth nought in vaine nought but vpon deliberate grounds If then the wil and word of God could haue beene kept purer and more entire or alike entire and pure by tradition as writing why was it written Or if any part thereof my speech keeps still within compasse of things necessarie why not the whole Was God so forgetfull as when he had purchased and promised life to his Church not to prescribe the way to it Or so ignorant that man can devise a neerer better and safer meane to saue himselfe by than God hath done Was it out of good providence and discretion to omit things necessarie commend vnto vs matters of lesse importance Was it out of envy that he would not haue his minde fully knowne to man Or impotency that hee could not aswell haue revealed it wholy as by halfes Or out of exception that fi●●er pen-mē should record the rest then his Evangelists and Apostles were When or where doth God cancel that seale and call it the commission which alone was authenticall Wills he the end without the meanes or such a meane as warres with it selfe and disappoints of the end it should attaine Did Moses or any of the Prophets in the old Did the Evangelists or any of the Apostles in the new so mince the matter as some doe alter and add to the Testators minde allow or disallow as some presume what they thought meet Can God bee charged with such blasphemies or his actuaries and pen-men iustly challenged for such treacherie The law of the Lord is perfect May not this perfection be comparatiuely taken that a fuller clearer knowledge of God is had in the lesser booke of his law then in that larger volume of his creatures But the Prophet attributes such a perfection thereto as can imply no defect vnlesse the vigor and force of the cause bee inferiour to the vertue of the effect converting the soule Esay examines both faith and life of Priest and people by the law and testimonie If they speake not according to this word it is because being but blind leaders of the blind there is no light in them The Apostles preached no other things then those which the Prophets and Moses said should come The doctrine which Timothy is here charged to looke vnto and touching which hee was to charge others that they taught no other was not contrary but consonant to those Scriptures wherein Timothy was trained from his youth and those Scriptures were able to make him wise vnto salvation what may wee thinke of S Paul was not he a good Christian How doth he proue that and approue himselfe But this I confesse c. Act. 24. 14. These words Paul spake When accused by Tertullus and other Iewes before whom Foelix a governour In what cause particular case The rule of right worship Who did suggest the words he vsed The spirit of God for such was the promise To what end and purpose were they vttered To proue the truth of his religion pietie and profession where of God was author antiquitie an ornament the Prophets witnesses and their records did containe the tenour which tenour is here made the touchstone of Gods truth and triall of his sinceritie Now either did Saint Paul faile in his proofe the spirit notwithstanding prompting him or God failed in performance of his promise or the Scriptures suffice to make a true and perfect Christian such as Paul was in this life and an inheritour of salvation as we doubt not but he now is in the next If it were otherwise the Apostle would never haue vndergone the burden of so bold an assertion as elsewhere he doth But though that we chosē by God to doe the worke of Evangelists to whom yet he restraines not his speech but goes further and ascends higher Or an Angel meaning no evill one as Satan when he doth transforme himselfe but an Angell from heaven pretending he were sent from God If an Angell from heaven preach c. And that no man thinke these words of execration to haue fallen from him vnawares or lesse advisedly he toucheth the same string againe saying as he said before and leauing his latter supposall as a thing not possible that such contradiction should come from heaven hee iterates thus If any man preach any other c. As holy men of God spake so they wrot by divine instigation For first the Scripture the writing surpasseth all other writings 2. The whole Scripture aswell the law which is the Gospell fore●told as the Gospell which is the law fulfilled is not a Rabbinicall fancie Anabaptistical revelation popish fiction or any other humane suggestion But thirdly inspiration giuen of God 4. The vse whereof is manifold as 1. to arme against errour in opinion which it improoueth 2. Corruption of life by correcting iniquitie to furnish with a contrarie abilitie of holding 3. That truth in iudgement which it teacheth 4. That righteousnesse of life wherein it instructeth Some admitting the vtility of the Scriptures gaine-say their sufficiencie but amongst other errours it refells this convincing the authors for gainesayers of Gods spirit and purpose seeing it is not meerely said to be profitable but so profitable as naught is wanting therein to make 5 absolute perhaps the people or laitie in whom so great ●urniture of knowledge is not required not those only but the Pastor too the man of God And if an Angell from