Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	apostle_n	church_n	tradition_n	3,170	5	9.1818	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62841	Amyntor, or, A defence of Milton's life containing I. a general apology for all writings of that kind, II. a catalogue of books attributed in the primitive times to Jesus Christ, his apostles and other eminent persons ..., III. a complete history of the book entitul'd Icon basilike, proving Dr. Gauden and not King Charles the First to be the author of it, with an answer to all the facts alledg'd by Mr. Wagstaf to the contrary, and to the exceptions made against my Lord Anglesey's Memorandum, Dr. Walker's book or Mrs. Gauden's narrative, which last piece is now the first time publish'd at large.	Toland, John, 1670-1722.; Charles I, King of England, 1600-1649.; Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712. Vindication of King Charles the martyr.; Gauden, John, 1605-1662. Eikon basilike, the pourtraicture of His Sacred Maiestie in his solitude and sufferings.; Walker, Anthony, d. 1692. True account of the author of a book entituled Eikon basilike.	1699 (1699)	Wing T1760; ESTC R22638	52,206	178

long time after by certain obscure Persons who lest no Credit should be given to the Stories they told of what they could not know did prefix to their Writings partly the Names of the Apostles and partly of those who succeeded the Apostles affirming that what they wrote themselves was written by these Wherein they seem to me continues he to have bin the more hainously injurious to the Disciples of Christ by attributing to them what they wrote themselves so dissonant and repugnant and that they pretended to write those Gospels under their Names which are so full of Mistakes of contradictory Relations and Opinions that they are neither coherent with themselves nor consistent with one another What is this therefore but to throw a Calumny on good Men and to fix the Accusation of Discord on the Unanimous Society of CHRIST's Disciples The same FAUSTUS a little after accuses his Adversaries who had Power enough to be counted Orthodox in these express Words Many things were foisted by your Ancestors into the Scriptures of our Lord which tho' mark'd with his Name agree not with his Faith And no wonder since as those of our Party have already frequently prov'd these things were neither written by himself nor his Apostles but several Matters after their Decease were pick'd up from Stories and flying Reports by I know not what Set of Half Iews and these not agreeing among themselves who nevertheless publishing all these Particulars under the Names of the Apostles of the Lord or of those that succeeded them have ●eign'd their own Lyes and Errors to be written according to them Since therefore the Manichaeans rejected the whole New Testament since the Ebionites or Nazarens who were the oldest Christians had a different Copy of St. MATTHEW's Gospel and the Marcionites had a very different one of St. LUKE's since St. JOHN's was attributed to CFRINTHUS all the Epistles of St. PAUL were deny'd by som a different Copy of 'em shewn by others and that the seven Pieces we mention'd before were rejected a long time by all Christians almost with universal Consent it had much more become Mr. BLACK●ALL's Profession to appear better acquainted with these things and commendably to spend his time in preventing the Mischievous Inferences which Heretics may draw from hence or to remove the Scruples of doubting but sincere Christians than so publicly to vent his Malice against a Man that never injur'd him and who appears so little to deserve the Imputation of Incredulity that his Fault if it may be does rather consist in believing more Scripture than his Adversaries WHAT need had Mr● BLACKHALL to inform that August Assembly how little he kn●w of the History of the Canon A History of the greatest Importance as well as containing the most curious Enquiries and without an exact Knowledge whereof it is not conceivable that any Man can be sit to convince Gainsayers or to demonstrat the Truth of the Christian Religion which I suppose he will not think fit to deny is one of the principal Duties of a Minister How little soever he knew before he cannot be ignorant any longer that there were a Multitude of other Pieces attributed to CHRIST and his Apostles besides those now receiv'd by the whole Christian Church He might at his Leisure have learnt so much from the Fathers or at least from others that had study'd 'em such as RIV●T Father SIMON DU●PIN ●ITTGIUS Dr. CAVF ERN●STUS GRABIUS who has lately publish'd som of those Fragments at Oxford and several others tho' he has occasion●d me to pr●sent him now with a much larger Catalogue than was publish'd by any of these I could add more not there mentioned and other Authorities for those which are there but I have already don more than enough to prove a thing whereof till the last thirtieth of Ianuary I thought few Lay-men wholly ignorant much less any one of the Clergy Indeed I never thought the History of our Canon so impartially handled or so fully clear'd as a Matter of such great Importance deserves and I despair of Mr. BLACKHALL's giving the World any Satisfaction in their Doubts concerning it But I hope som abler Person of his Order may particularly write on this Subject which if I see neglected also by them I shall think it no Intrusion on their Office to undertake it my self and if I ever write it I promise it shall be the fairest History and the only one of that kind that ever appear'd For I shall lay all the Matters of Fact together in their natural Order without making the least Remark of my own or giving it a Color in favor of any Sect or Opinion leaving all the Word to judge for themselves and to build what they please with those Materials I shall furnish ' em I CONCLUDE this Point with one Observation to shew with what Malice I am treated by some People while others pass with them for the most Orthodox Men in the World who have said infinitly more in plain and direct Words than they could infer with all their Art from a few Expressions of mine and which the most ignorant of my Adversaries could make no more than Insinuation at the worst I talkt of spurious Pieces and have now as well shewn what those Pieces were as put a Distinction between 'em and such as I thought genuin But let us hear what a Person says who were he as much given to the World as many of his Friends would make a more considerable Figure considering his great Services to the National Church and the Respect he reciprocally receives from it I mean the famous DODWELL who alone tho' a Lay-man understands as much of Ecclesiastic History as the Divines of all Churches put together His Words are these The Canonical Writings lay conceal'd in the Coffers of privat Churches or Persons till the later Times of TRAJAN or rather perhaps of ADRIAN so that they could not com to the Knowledg of the whole Church For if they had bin publish'd they wou'd have bin overwhelm'd under such a Multitude as were then of Apocryphal and Supposititious Books that a new Examination and a new Testimony would be necessary to distinguish 'em from these false ones And it is from this New Testimony whereby the genuin Writings of the Apostles were distinguish'd from the spurious Pieces which went under their Names that depends all the Authority which the truly Apostolic Writings have formerly obtain'd or which they have at present in the Catholic Church But this fresh Attestation of the Canon is subject to the same Inconveniencies with those Traditions of the Ancient Persons that I defend and whom IRENAEUS both heard and saw for it is equally distant from the Original and could not be made except by such only as had reacht those remote Times But 't is very certain that before the Period I mention'd of TRAJAN's time the Canon of the Sacred Books was not yet fixt nor any certain number of Books receiv'd

part whereof are still acknowledg'd to be genuin and the rest to be forg'd in neither of which Assertions I could be justly suppos'd to mean any Books of the N. Testament as I shall presently evince But Mr. BLACKHALL affirms That I must intend those now receiv'd by the whole Christian Church for he knows of no other A cogent Argument truly and clearly proves his Logic to be just of a Piece with his Reading I admire what this Gentleman has bin doing so long at the University that he should be such a great Stranger to these things But now I find a Man may be a very good Divine without knowing any thing of the Fathers tho' a Layman is always referr'd to 'em when he starts any Difficulties which makes him sooner acquiesce and swallow what he cannot chew than get Information at so dear a rate But had Mr. BLACKHALL been dispos'd to deal ingenuously 〈◊〉 me he might see without the help of the Fathers that I did not mean the Books of the New Testament when I mention'd Supposititious Pi●ces under the Name of CHRIST since there is none ascrib'd to him in the whole Bible nor do we read there that ever he wrote any thing except once with his Finger on the Ground when he acquitted the Woman taken in Adultery And for ought appears to the contrary Mr. BLACKHALL may deny that to be any Writing because he knows not what it was yet som German Divines as well read as himself have presum'd to tell us the Contents of it and came almost to excommunicating one another in their solemn Disputes about this weighty Affair To this Negative Argument from the Silence of the New Testament we may add the Positive Testimony of St. AUGUSTIN and St. JEROM whereof the former affirms That the Lord himself wrote nothing which makes it necessary we should believe those who have written of him And the latter says That our Saviour left no Volum of his own Doctrin behind him as is extravagantly feign'd in most of the Apochryphal Pieces NOW to convince all the World that I did not intend by those Pieces the Books of the New Testament as well as to shew the Rashness and Uncharitableness of Mr. BLACKHALL's Assertion I shall here insert a large Catalogue of Books anciently ascrib'd to JESUS CHRIST his Apostles their Acquaintance Companions and Contemporaries Of these som remain still entirely extant which I shall mark in their Places We have several Fragments of others preserv'd by the Fathers and all that is left us of the rest are only their bare Titles I constantly refer to the Books wherein they are quoted that every body may inform himself of the Fact And after the Catalogue is ended I shall distinguish the Books which the Ancicients alledg'd as the genuin Works of the Apostles or Apostolic Men from those that they rejected as the Forgeries of Heretics which is a good Argument however that they were receiv'd by som Party of Christians to countenance their Opinions Next I design to name those Pieces of whose Spuriousness I doubted tho' their Authority is still receiv'd and so conclude this Point with som material Observations A Catalogue of Books mentioned by the Fathers and other Ancient Writers as truly or falsely ascrib'd to JESUS CHRIST his Apostles and other eminent Persons I. Of Books reported to be written by CHRIST himself or that particularly concern him 1. HIS Letter in answer to that of Abgarus King of Edessa Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. 1. c. 13. You may also consult Cedrenus Nicephorus Constantinus Porphyrogennetus in the Manipulus of Combesisius p. 79 c. extant 2. The Epistle of Christ to Peter and Paul Augustin contra Faustum l. 28. c. 13. 3. The Parables and Sermons of Christ. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 39. 4. A Hymn which Christ secretly taught his Apostles and Disciples Augustin Epist. 253. ad Ceretum Episcopum 5. A Book of the Magic of Christ Augustin de consensu evangelico l. 1. c. 9 10. If it be not the same with the Epistle to Peter and Paul 6. A Book of the Nativity of our Savior of the Holy Virgin his Mother and her Midwife Gelasius apud Gratianum Decret 1. part Dist. 15. c. 3. But I believe this is the same with the Gospel of Iames whereof in its due Order II. MARY 1. An Epistle to Ignatius Which is now extant among his Works 2. Another Epistle to the Inhabitants of Messina To be read among the same Ignatius's Works 3. A Book of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Usually publish●d with St. Ierome's Works 4. Another Book about the Death of Mary is said by Lambecius to ly unpublish'd in the Emperor's Library T. 4. p. 131. 5. We shall not insist on the Book of Mary concerning the Miracles of Christ and the Ring of King Solomon III. PETER 1. The Gospel of Peter Origen T. 11. Comment in Mat. Hieron in Catalog Scriptor Eccles. c. 1. Euseb. Hist. Eccl●s l. 3. c. 3 25. Idem l. 6. c. 12. 2. The Acts of Peter Euscb. Hist. Eccles. l. 3. c. 3. Hieronym in Catalogo Origen Tom. 21. Comment in Joan. Isidorus Pelusiota l. 2. Epist. 99. 3. The Revelation of Peter Clem. Alex. in Epitom Theodot Euseb Hist. Eccles. l. 3. c. 25. l. 6. c. 14. Idem l. 3. c. 3. Hieron in Catalago c. 1. Zozomen Hist. Eccles. l. 7. c. 19. 4. The Epistle of Peter to Clemens is still shewn in the Aethiopic Language by the Eastern Christians Tilmont Hist. Eccles. Tom. 1. part 2. pag. 497. And he has it from Cotelerius The Epistle of Clemens to James is publish'd in the Clementines 5. The Doctrine of Peter Origen in praefat ad libros principiorum Gregor Nazian epist. 16. Elias Levita in notis ad Nazianzeni Orationem ad cives trepidantes 6. The preaching of Peter if it be not the same with his Doctrin Origen Tom. 14. in Joan. Idem in praefat ad Libros principiorum Clem. Alex. Stromat l. 1. l. 6 c. Lactant. l. 4. c. 21. Autor libri de baptismo Haereticorum inter opera Cypriani Joan. Damascen l. 2. parallel c. 16. 7. The Liturgy of Peter publish'd by Lindanus at Antwerp in the Year 1588 and at Paris Anno 1595. 8. The Itinerary or Iournys of Peter mention'd by Epiphanius Haeres 30. n. 15. and by Athanasius in his Synopsis of the Scriptures I believe to be the same with the Recognitions of St. Clement still extant wherein we have a very particular Account of Peter's Voyages and Performances 9. The Iudgment of Peter Hieronym in Catalogo c. 1. IV. ANDREW 1. The Gospel of St. Andrew Gelasius in Decreto c. 2. The Acts of St. Andrew Euscb. Hist. Eccles. l. 3. c. 25. Epiphan Haeres 47. n. 1. Item 61 63 47. Philastrius in Haeres 8. Gelasius in decreto Turribius Asturicensis apud Paschasium Quesnerum inter epistolas Leonis magni p. 459. V. IAMES 1. The Gospel of

of the Christians and not of the Jews who when there 's occasion will afford as large a Catalogue XV. Of the Gospels of the Hebrews and the Egyptians with som general Pieces 1. The Gospel of the twelve Apostles Origen Homil. 1. in Luc. Ambros in Prooem Commentar in Luc. Theophylact. Comment in cap. 1. v. 1. secundum Lucam c. But this Piece was I believe Originally the same with 2. The Gospel of the Hebrews Ignat. in Epist. ad Smyrnaeos Clem. Alex l. 1. Stromat Origen tract 8. in Matt. Idem Homil. 14. in Jerem in Comment ad Joan. Epiphan Haeros 30. n. 13 22 c. Hieronym in Catalogo Script Eccles. c. 4. alibi Passim This Gospel several have maintain'd to be the Original of St. Matthew 3. The Gospel of the Egyptians Clem. Rom. Epist. 2. ad Corinth c. 12. Clem. Alex. l. 3. Stromat ld ibid. Origen Homil. in Luc. Epiphan Haeres 62. n. 2. 4. The Apostles Creed tho' of late Years it begins to be call'd in question 5. The Doctrine and Constitution of the Apostles Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. 3. c. 25. Athanas. in Synopsi Epiphan Haeres 80. n. 7. 45. n. 5. 70. n. 10. 75. n. 6. Idem in Compendiaria fidei expositione n. 22. Incertus de Aleatoribus inter Scripta Cypriani There are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Doctrines both attributed to every one of the Apostles singly and also to their Companions and immediat Successors too long to insert particularly These Doctrins were bound with the other Books of the New Testament as appears by the Stichometry of N●ephorus and Anastasius tho' it was not always pretended that they were Original Pieces but rather Collections of what the Companions and Successors of the Apostles either heard or pretended to hear from their own Mouths 6. We need not produce our Authorities for the Canons and Constitutions of the Apostles since so many learned Members of the Church of England have written large Volums to prove 'em genuin 7. The Precepts of Peter and Paul This Book lies in Manuscript in the Great Duke's Library in Florence if we believe Ludovicus Iacobus a Sancto Carolo in his Bibliotheca Pontificia l. 1. pag. 177. 8. The present Cophtic Christians have a Book of Doctrins which they believe was compos'd by the twelve Apostles with the Assistance of St. Paul c. 9. The Gospel of Perfection Epiphan Haeres 26. n. 2 10. The Acts of all the Apostles written by themselves Epiphan Haeres 30. n. 16. Isidor Pelus l. 2. epist. 99. Varadatus in epist. ad Leonem Imp. Tom. 4. Concil Labbaei col 978. Io. Malala Chronograph l. x. 11. The Itinerary of all the Apostles as well as of every one of ●em singly was formerly extant XVI Of the Writings of the Disciciples and Companions of the Apostles OF the Books ascrib'd to the Disciples and Companions of the Apostles and which are still extant som are thought genuin and of great Authority at this time Every one were approv'd at som time or by som Party And yet I am of Opinion that it is the easiest Task in the World next to that of shewing the Ignorance and Superstition of the Writers to prove them all Spurious and fraudulently impos'd on the Credulous Those I mean are the Epistles of Clemens Romanus to the Corinthians his Recognitions Decretals and other Pieces bearing his Name All the Epistles of Ignatius the Epistle of Pol●carpus to the Philippians with his other Writings The Acts of the Martyrdom of Ignatius and Polycarpus The Pastor of Hermas The Epistle of Barnabas The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite The Epistle of Marcellus Peter's Disciple to Nereus and Achilleus and his Treatise of the Conflict of Peter and Simon Magus The Life of Saint Iohn by Prochorus The Petition of Veronica to Herod on the behalf of CHRIST The Passion of Timothy by Polycrates The Passions of Peter and Paul in two Books by Linus The two Epistles of Martial of Limousin and the Life of the same by Aurelianus The Gospel of Nicodemus The History of the Apostolical Conflict by Abdias who is said to be appointed first Bishop of Babylon by the Apostles The Passion of Saint Andrew written by the Presbyters of Achaia The Epistle of Evodius entitul'd the Light the Altercation of Iason and Papiscus The Acts of Titus compos'd by Zena St. Paul's Companion with a multitude of other Acts and Passions The Gospel of Barnabas the Revelation of Stephen the Passion of Barnabas and the Epistles of Ioseph the Arimathean to the Britons are quite lost and were they extant would probably appear to be as foolish and fabulous as the rest XVII Of Pieces alledg'd in favor of Christianity which were forg'd under the Name of Heathens 1. The Works of Trismegistus and Asclepius extant 2. The Books of Zoroaster and Hystaspes 3. The Sibyllin Oracles cited so frequently and with such Authority by the Primitive Fathers that Celsus takes occasion from thence to nick-name the Christians Sibyllists extant 4. The Letter of Pontius Pilat to Tiberius with the Speech of Tiberius to the Senat. extant 5. The Epistle of Lentulus giving a Description of the Person of CHRIST extant 6. The Epistles or Orders of Adrian Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius in favor of the Christians extant in Iustin Martyr c. c. c. HERE' 's a long List for Mr. BLACKHALL who 't is probable will not think the more meanly of himself for being unacquainted with these Pieces nor if that were all shoul'd● I be forward to think the worse of him on this Account but I think he is to blame for denying that there were any such because he knew nothing of 'em much less should he infer from thence that I deny'd the Scriptures which Scandal however because manifestly proceeding from Ignorance I heartily forgive him as every good Christian ought to do TO explain now therefore the several Members of the Passage in MILTON's Life In the first place by the spurious Pieces I meant tho' not all yet a good parcel of those Books in the Catalogue which I am persuaded were partly forg'd by som more zealous than discreet Christians to supply the brevity of the Apostolic Memoirs partly by designing Men to support their privat Opinions which they hop'd to effect by virtue of such respected Authorities And som of 'em I doubt were invented by Heathens and Jews to impose on the Credulity of many wel-dipos'd Persons who greedily swallow'd any Book for Divine Revelation that contain'd a great many Miracles mixt with a few good Morals while their Adversaries laught in their Sleeves all the while to see their Tricks succeed and were rivetted in their ancient Prejudices by the greater Superstition of such Enthusiasts IN the second place by the Books of whose Spuriousness I said the World was not yet convinc'd tho' in my privat Opinion I could not think 'em genuin I meant those of the other