Selected quad for the lemma: tradition_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
tradition_n	father_n	rule_n	scripture_n	1,783	5	6.0386	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14462	The firste parte of the Christian instruction, and generall so[m]me of the doctrine, conteyned in the holy Scriptures wherein the principall pointes of the religion are familiarly handled by dialogues, very necessary to be read of all Christians. Translated into Englishe, by Iohn Shute, accordyng to the late copy set forth, by th'author Maister Peter Viret. 1565. Ouersene and perused, accordyng to the order appointed, by the Queenes maiesties iniunctions.; Instruction chrestienne et somme generale de la doctrine comprinse ès sainctes Escritures. Part 1. English	Viret, Pierre, 1511-1571.; Shute, John, fl. 1562-1573.	1565 (1565)	STC 24777; ESTC S119198	167,989	225

moste vertuous personages that euer the earth dyd beare and that of so greate an accorde and perpetuall consente and all readye by so longe a tyme euen from the begynnyng of the worlde by continuall succession T. Thou alledgest here great matters of great weighte to approue that whiche thou haste declared D. Yea but I haue not yet touched the principall to witte that the verye Sonne of God whiche is the true woorde the Image the lyghte and bryghtnesse of the Iohn 1. Heb. i. glorye of God hath beene sente vnto vs from the bosome of the Father to declare and confyrme the same the more dwellyng amonge men in the true nature and shape of man Also we haue here no small testimonye that thys doctryne is of God in that the deuill dyd neuer make so longe and cruell warres agaynste any doctryne what so euer it was as hee hath agaynste thys and in that it hath beene alwayes so miraculouslye conserued by the singulare prouidence and power of God agaynste all the assaultes of the deuill and that God hath punyshed wyth horrible plagues those that haue stoode vppe agaynste the same As the examples of all ages doe ryghte well witnesse What shall we also saye in that it hath beene approued and ratifyed so myghtely by so manye signes and myracles which coulde in no wise bee done but by the onely power of God and also by the bloude death and confession of so manye Martyrs and confessours which are in number infinite T. If euer God dyd speake or if euer he dyd shewe himselfe to men to deliuer vnto them anye kinde of doctryne there is none other doctryne that we maye assuredlye beleue to bee of God but onely thys doctryne of the which thou haste nowe spoken And therefore we are fullye resolued that GOD hath shewed himselfe to men and that he hath reuealed vnto them the doctryne of saluation For if the kinges and princes of the earthe yea the moste barbarous brute and cruell men of the earth dyd well knowe that men coulde not lyue wythoute lawes but were constrayned to make lawes and to submitte them selues knowing the same to bee verye necessarye for the conseruation of mankynde and common policie doe wee thincke that GOD the soueraigne kynge and prince of euerye creature who is himselfe the lawe to all would leaue men withoute a lawe and hys people withoute geuyng them an order howe to lyue Hee that hath geuen a lawe to all hys other creatures woulde hee leaue man which is the chiefe of his workes among all the visible creatures and he whom he hath appoynted prince and ruler ouer them to be without lawe and direction D. Who can thinke the contrarye if he be not more beastlye then the very beastes T. Wherfore for my part I do conclude that this same whereof we haue spoken is the true lawe and doctrine of God and that there is none other but that all others must be gouerned by thys onely lawe and to reiecte all such as are not agreing with thys ¶ Of the moste deuely she peruersitie of the Epicurians and hovve they doe agree vvith the doctrine of Mahomet vvho is of opinion that all men shall bee saued in theyr ovvne lavve D. THou doest conclude very wel but the Epicurians of whom we speake will not so easely agree to our sayinges For it is harde to satisfye such as do delyte to mocke God and to make warres agaynst hym and to perswade in matters of religion such as desire to liue without religigion And in deede such swyne are not worthye to be disputed with in such a matter for so muche as in the same they declare them selues to be more beastly then the brute beastes and that they denie the foundation which the deuills them selues are compelled to confesse for they doubte not at all but that there is one God and one Lord Iesus Christ whō they feare and stand in awe of And euen as those reasons which we haue alreadye alledged are sufficient for all such as feare God and are tractable and not contentions euen so are they sufficient to ouerthrowe and treade downe the errour of them that do affyrme that euery man shall be saued in hys owne lawe thys proposition shoulde be true if Iames. ii Met. 8 Mark v euery man dyd embrace the lawe of God this poynte is an article of the lawe of Mahomet because that he doth imagine that God hath geuen diuerse lawes vnto men in diuerse tymes and in diuerse places according to the diuersitie of the people and nations wherefore he doth conclude that euery nation shall bee saued in obseruyng that lawe and forme of religion that he hath receaued of God In the which although he do moste filthilye erre yet notwithstanding he hath more reason then these men of whom we speake whiche accepte for a lawe and religion all that euer any of them doth inuent and imagine of his own braynes ¶ Of mans traditions and of the rule vvhich is set before vs in the holy Scriptures of all religion and doctrine T. THey thinke also because they haue receaued these thinges of their fathers that the same which they followe is the lawe and religion which God hath ordeyned D. Yea but there are of them that doe well knowe the contrary and are well assured that they embrace many things which are inuented by men wherfore if they will attribute so great worthines to the traditions of men as to that law and doctrine which God himselfe hath geuen and reueled by his Patriarches Prophets and Apostles and chiefly by Iesus Christ his onely sonne our Lord we shal neuer haue ende of geuing lawes nor shall we haue any thing whereunto we may assuredly trust There shal bee no difference betwene God and man betwene the maister and the seruaunt for euery man shall be a lawe maker And Sathan may continually by this meanes spread abroad what doctrine so euer shall please him and vouch it to be the doctrine of God And then in vayne hath God geuen hys lawe and word by his Patriarches Prophets and Apostles and especiallye by his owne sonne Iesus Christ In vayne should he haue forbidden to adde anye thing to it or to diminishe it Exod. 20 Heb. 1. Gal iii. Acte vii Deut 4 1● P●o●● xxx or ells to receaue anye other doctrine no although it were brought in dede by the Aungels of heauen Wherefore if he will that we geue suche honour vnto that woorde which hath ben once reuealed by the Patriarches Prophets and Apostles and by Iesus Christe our onely Lorde that the verye doctrince of the Aungells shall bee examined by thys rule doe we then thinke that he will geue more power to man ouer hys worde then to Aungells To what ende doe all the admonitions serue whiche are geuen vs for to beware Deut. xiii Mat. 7. Actes xx Roma xvi i. Iohn iiii of false Prophets to shonne those that ar heretiques and to proue the

the dead and to apply them to sondry vses but the pulpit is not greatly encumbred with them and whē they do preach they preach nothyng els but lyes as their owne dreames phautasies Legenda aurea a Scripture of their owne inspiration theyr owne traditions decrees and ordinaunces Christ ordeined onely two Sacramētes which two they haue corrupted and added to thē fiue bycause that Christ did not so well know what is meete for his Church as they do O horrible Gene 2 presumption God him selfe when he had created man in Paradise sayd It is not good that man be alone we will make i Cor 7 hym a helper The Apostle s Paul saith It is good for a mā not to touche a woman yet to auoyde fornication let euery man haue his owne wife euery woman her own husband Heb 13 ● The Apostle saith mariage is honorable among al mē the bed vndefiled but God will iudge the whore masters and adulterers these wordes are generall and haue regarde to all men and to all estates Iesus Christ did not onely alow mariage but did also honor it with his presence In Cana of Galilee S. Augustine in hys treatise of the goodnes of mariage sayth in his 21. Chap. that he dare not preferre the virginity of S. Iohn before the mariage of Abraham S. Ambrose in hys first booke sayth Touching virgins S. Paule sayth I haue no cōmaundmēt of the Lord but I do coūsel or aduise if the doctor of the Gentils had no commaundemēt who is he that might haue any And truly he had no cōmaundment but he did counsell therunto for virginitie can not be cōmaūded it may wel be desired for that which is not in our power is not to be cōmaūded but it is to be wished for Origens vpō S. Mathew in his 24. Homelie sayth That they which do forbid men to marry do enforce thē to a licentious villeni forbiddyng that which is expediēt The like he sayth of those that cōmaund abstinence from meates and such lyke where vnto the faithfull may in no wise be cōstrained he sayth that they lay he any burdens on the shoulders of men cōtrary to the wil of Christ who sayth My yoke is pleasant my burthen light easy c. Eusebius in hys Ecclesiasticall historie 3. boke 30. cha reciteth that S. Clement writyng against such as did condempne mariage among other thynges sayth wil they reproue the Apostles S. Peter had a wife So had Philippe Paul also had a wife as appeareth by one of hys Epistles in the whiche he is not ashamed to send salutations to her whom he sayth he would not carry about the countrey with him bycause he would be the more ready to preach the Gospell Many of the auncient fathers were maried as Patriarkes Prophetes and Bishops of the primitiue Church Yet is not the Pope affrayde to say and stand agaynst God and Christ that mariage is vnclennes pollution and carnal filthynes as it is said in the. 4. of the sentēces Dist c. 17. chap. 4. and his decret 27. Quest 2. chap. whiche begynneth Cum societas Tertulian in his prescriptions agaynst the heretikes sayth It is not in our power or choise lawful ▪ to bring in to chuse or alledge for authoritie that whiche any other hath brought in or alledged for hys own pleasure for we haue the Apostles of the Lord for our authors who haue brought in nothing for theyr own pleasure ▪ nor any new thing but haue faithfully preached and taught to the nations that discipline which they receyued of Christ S. Augustine vpon S. Iohn in the. 46. treatise and. 10. chap. sayth if they whiche sit in the chaire of Moses do teache the lawe of God it doth then folowe that God teacheth by them but if they will teache any thyng of theyr owne heare them not nor yet do it c. And in the. 6. against Faustus chap. 16. in the. 18. booke chap. 12. doth cal by the wordes of Christ not onely false Prophetes but also theeues and murderers all such as dare preach any other thing to the people of God thē the Canonical Scriptures against such he alledgeth the saying of Christ al those y● came before me are theeues murderers S. Paul in his 1. Epistle to the Galathiās doth accurs●e him that bringeth any other doctrine thē that which he hath taught yea if it wer an Aūgell of heauen Further in hys Epistle he sayth that whiche I receyued of the Lord the same also deliuer I vnto you c. It is not so with these men of whom we haue alreadie spoken they deliuer vnto vs their own traditions inuentions and dreames in the stead of the worde of God And I doubt not although these men haue nothing in their mouthes but the fathers the fathers which must authorise the scriptures vnto thē if the fathers liued in these daies but they wold be as readye to persecute them as they are to persecute those which in these dayes do professe Christ Let it be seene how many of them were which suffered in the late tyme of theyr late persecution that did denie any one article of the Christian fayth but they did by Gods grace most costantly affirme them euen sealing them vp with their bloud examine Theodoret Epiphanius and Augustine Fathers of great holynes and doctrine who haue largely written of heresyes and let it be seene whether they maintained any one of those which they cite no not one let vs see how many Arrians Anabaptistes Pelagians Marcionistes Nestorians Ebionistes or any other kind of heretikes they did then execute I suppose the number wil appeare very smal for they are al in leage with Sathan I doubt not but if the Gospell had as fatte a smoking kitchin tyed vnto it as haue the Romyshe rytes we should haue a great number of Gospellers for this kitchin Seducers of the people is of great effecte among the Romanistes S. Chrisostome vpon S. Mathew in his 48. Homelie chap. 24. sayth thus There are some which do greatly seduce through lyes vntrouthes they preach Christ they teach the fayth they haue also churches orders and elders as the faythfull haue They do also read the Scriptures of God it semeth that they geue the same baptisme and the sacrament of the bodye and bloud of Iesus Christ likewise they honour the Apostles Martyrs and by these meanes they do greatly abuse the vnderstanding not only of the simple but also of such as are wise who shall he be that Antichrist shall not be able to shake or moue partlye doing the workes of Christ and the antichristians fulfilling in a sorte the dueties of christians vnlesse it be peraduenture such an one as doth consider that which the Apostle sayth if Sathan can transforme himself into an Angell of lyght is it then a greate matter for hys ministers to be transformed lyke to the minister of iustice whose end shal be according to

T. I know it certainly so to be ¶ Of the causes for the vvhich God did allovve and confirme vvyth such authoritie the ministery of Moyses and hovv hard it is to bring men vnder those lavves by the vvhich mens liues ought to be gouerned and directed D. SEing then it is so and that God woulde euen at once geue such testimony of hys heauenly doctrine and of the ministery of all the Ministers by whom he would haue it declared to men it is no maruel if his good pleasure were once to shew him selfe in such maiesty vnto such a company to the ende that no man might iustlye afterwarde take occasion to doubt of that doctrine of God and to reproche Moyses as if he had framed these lawes of hys owne head which he had brought to the people of Israell and that he should haue made them beleue that he had receaued them of God as many Heathen lawmakers haue made theyrs to be beleued and as manye false Prophetes haue done of their drcames and false doctrine For they did well knowe that men were of such nature that they would not willing ly become subiect but onelye vnto him whom they thought to be greater then them selues wherfore hardly wil a man make him selfe subiect to a man to lyue according to hys wyll and pleasure if he be not thereunto enforced If it be done but by constrainte it is but during the time that he is the weakest For as soone as he can finde anye occasion to cast that yoke from him he wil not misse to doo it with all his power T. We see dayly experience sufficiently of this For how cā one submit himself willingly vnto a mā whō he estemeth to be his fellow and equal to himselfe and not his master and superior when he wil not willingly submit himselfe to God his Creator his Master his Lord and Soueraigne Prince ne yet vnto his lawes D. Thou mayest haue a iudgement by that but albeit that man wil not willingly yelde himselfe subiect neither to God ne yet to men Yet notwithstanding if he must needes haue a Lorde and to lyue accordinge to the wyl and minde of an other and not of himselfe yet is hys hart so cruel and stubburne that he thinketh it greater dishonour to submit himselfe to such as he is himselfe then to his superiour and to man then to God On the other side whatsoeuer darkenes is fallen into the vnderstanding of man by meane of synne yet for all that ther remaineth a certayne impression of the knowledge of God in the hart of man which compelleth them al to acknowledge that ther is a souerain and diuine power vnto the whiche it muste needes bee that euerye man be subiect wyll he nyll he and that this soueraigne power is God eternal Wherfore ther is none howe wicked so euer he be if he be not at all more brutall then the brute beastes that is not somwhat moued when the authoritye of God is alledged and that feareth not punishment when it is geuē him to vnderstand that God hath commaunded or forbidden that which is proponed if he say or do the contrarye chiefly when we haue a good opinion that we thinke wel of them that speake vnto vs. T. It is very true ¶ Of the faynings and subtilties that the Pagan lavv makers and the false prophets haue vsed to authorise their lavves and doctrine vnder the cloke of Gods name D. FOr that cause Zoroaster the lawmaker of the Bactrianes and Persians gaue them to vnderstand that he had receiued of the god Oromasis those lawes which hee gaue vnto them Licurgus the Lacedemonian law gyuer did the like fathering his vpon the god Appollo Minos the law geuer of the Cretians which now are called Candians did fayne to haue receiued hys of the god Iupiter Numa Pompilius for the like cause did fayne hymself also to haue conference with the Nimph and goddesse Aegera and that he receiued of her the lawes which he gaue to the Romaines chiefly those that touched the religion ●amolris the law maker of the Scythiens hath also reported his to be of the goodesse Vesta And Mahomet by whom the Turks haue bene seduced which haue had partly their originall from the Scythyans how manye finesses he hath vsed to authorise his Alcoran and making them beleue that it was sent from heauen And all the false Prophetes and seducers haue not inuēted a litle And the Romish Antechrist companion to Mahomet hath not he obserued the same order not onely to geue so much authority to his tradicions as to the word of God and to cause them to be receiued for the woorde of God but also to make him selfe Iudge of the holy Scriptures and of their meaninges vnder shadow of the promes which Iesus Christ did make to Iohn 14. 15. 16. his Apostles to send vnto them the holy ghost and to direct and gouerne his church by hym as thoughe that which is spoken of the true church of Iesus Christ and of the Ministery therof did appertaine to that Antechrist and to hys Ministers Their conclusion is euen as good as if a man would conclude in this sorte The holye ghost was promised and geuen to the Patriarches Prophetes to the true Church of Israel that therfore it must follow that Ierobo am and hys Priestes and Achab Iesabel and their false prophets were inspired and directed by the spirite of God and Annas and Cayphas the Scribes and Pharyses and all the councel and the Synagoge of the Iewes which did condemne Iesus Christ and his Apostles that Micheas Elias Iesus Christ and his Apostles which stoode against them being so small a number against so great a multitude were heretickes For these men had the Kinges and Princes on their sides and did supplye the place and seate of the true Patriarches and prophets vnto whom and by whom the promesses were made by God and were in dede of their own race and blood Al be it that the Pope hath no such coulour as they had he hath notwithstanding armed himselfe with the authority of God as they did For he did wel know that if men had not had such perswasion of him and of his doctrine he and his shoulde neuer haue growen to such authority as they are come vnto T. That is not to be doubted ¶ Of the testimonies that God hath geuen to Moyses of hys vocation and how necessary it vvas D. NOwe it is not so with Moyses as it is wyth these men for Moyses was not onely auowed by God by word and by his own authoritye but God did geue vnto him letters and seales and this not onelye once or twyse Exo. xix but often times And to the end that he would leaue the les occasion to doubt either of the letters or of the seales hee came in proper person to ratify al that by his own mouth and that not in secrete or els before two or three