Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	believe_v	faith_n	reveal_v	2,834	5	9.4772	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40453	The dolefull fall of Andrew Sall, a Jesuit of the fourth vow, from the Roman Catholick apostolick faith lamented by his constant frind, with an open rebuking of his imbracing the confession, contained in the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England.	French, Nicholas, 1604-1678.	1674 (1674)	Wing F2178; ESTC R6915	151,148	496

Faith that was not soe before nor likwise make any Proposition Hereticall that was not soe before but only defines that Proposition to be of Faith that is and was ever soe and condemns that for an Heresie that is and was soe Nor are Articles of Faith as Sall affirms repugnant to human reason but transcending human reason as Saint Thomas teacheth Fidem non esse contra sensum sed esse de eo ad quod sensus non attingit much less is Faith repugnant to reason a nobler faculty then that of sence yet for all this wee may not say that reason can comprehend an Article of Faith Will you beleeve nothing Sall but what you can comprehend and as it were demonstrat by human reason and discourse This is not Faith but Science The silliest Catholick old woeman in your Country will tell you that in beleeving you must take Faith and leave reason And Saint Aug●stin saith the same as thus S. Aug. lib. de utilitat● credend● Quod inteligimus debemus rationi quod credimus Authoritati Had you ankored your selfe Sall upon the Authority of the Church as most eminent Schoolmen of our side doe you had not fallne into Heresie but you presumed to much on your owne witt and wanted humility and necessary vertue Saint Augnstin reprehends such kinde of men as would circumscribe matters of Faith within the sphere of reason and discourse in these words Eccè qualibus Argumentis omnipotentiae Dei humana contradicit infirmitas quam possidet vanitas That is Behold with what kinde of Arguments doth human weakness mastered by vanity contradict the omnipotent power of God The Paulin difinition of Faith the most perfect of all diffinitions doth clearly demonstrate that the force of reason cannot comprehend Articles of Faith Illa particula Argumentum non aparentium clarè significat objectum fidei esse rem non visam cui firmiter adhaeret intellectus non ex rei evidentia sed ex auctoritate divina per illam particulam non apparentium distinguitur fides a Scientia intellestu per quem aliquid fit apparens That is The Argument of things not appearing doth clearly signify the object of Faith to be a thing not seen to which the understanding doth adhere not for the Evidence of the thing but for the devine Authority revealing it and by that particle of things not appearing Faith is distinguished from Science and understanding of objects by which a thing is made apearing This is the Opinion of Nicholas de Lira and others It is alsoe the Opinion of Devines commonly Visum non esse objectum fidei S. Tho. 1. 2. qs 67. S. Tho. 2. 2. q. 1. a. 4 And Saint Thomas saith elswher Quod nihil est objectum fidei nisi sub ratione non apparentis XVIII CHAPTER The Doctrin of Transubstantiation defended against Sall a new Protestant THere is noe Protestant soe maddly obstinate as to give God the lye to his face and in plaine tearms to say though hee did know God did reveale the Doctrin of Transubstantiation as the Church of Rome doth propose and maintaine it I would not beleeve it noe all Protestants acknowledg and generally all Hereticks God to bee truth it selfe and not able to deceive or bee deceived The obstinacy therfore of Protestants against Gods verityes is not as they are uttered immediatly by himselfe but as they are proposed by his Church as in the point of Transubstantiation Sall become lately a Protestant doth not beleeve the Catholick Church proposing that Doctrin as revealed by God but says it is not warranted by devine writt the same hee says of Indulgences Purgatory worship of Images c. but introduced and made an Article of faith by the use and Authority of the Roman Church Against cleare evidence there can be noe obstinacy the object of it must be involved in some obscurity otherwise the will which is the source of obstinacy would not bee able to master the understanding There is nothing more cleare and evident to the understanding then this proposition If God said or revealed any thing it s very true The obstinacy therfore of Hereticks doth not contest with this cleare and confessed truth It only doubts or denyes that God said or revealed any such thing as the Church pretends By this it appears in what Sall and I doe differ about Transubstantiation for hee doth not beleeve the Church proposing and defyning the Doctrin therof as revealed by God The Heretick beleeves what the Church proposeth as revealed only conditionally if God reveal'd it reserving to his owne privat Iudgment or to that of his privat Patriarks Luther Zwinglius Calvin c. this determination but the Catholick Absolutly and doubts not but God revealed what the Church proposeth as revealed submitting his Iudgment in matters of Faith to what soever the Church doth define or declare This is the case of Hereticks They protest if they had thought or beleeved that the Doctrin of the Roman Church in controverted points were revealed by God they would hartily imbrace it but they doe not consider this very if or doubt is Heresie for they have noe reason to doubt but that the Roman Catholick Church hath Commission and power of defining and declaring what is revealed by God seeing it hath the evident signes of a true Church as Miracles Sanctity of Doctrin and Life continuall Succession from the Apostles to the present age both of Pastors and Doctrin These signes may be easily perceived and knowne by all people as Clownes Souldiers and other illiterate persons let them examin the Histories of theire owne Countryes and the Religion of theire Ancesters which soever amongst all the Christians Churches had and hath the aforesaid signes that Church must be heard obeyed and beleeved as having Gods Authority and Commission to deside all doubts and Controversies of Faith who soever beleeves not her diffinitions and obeys not her decrees and Canons in points of Faith is an obstinat Heretick and such is Sall having deserted and condemned this Church But Sall tells us the Doctrin of Transubstantiation is a novelty not found in Scripture but brought into the Church by the Councell of Lateran anno 1215. This is a great mistake in Sall The very condemning of Berengarius as an Heretick for impugning Transubstantiation anno 1050 which was before the Councell of Lateran 165. years proves it was noe novelty but an Article of Faith before that Councell There were present at this Counsell the Emperors Roman and Greek and of the Kings of France Spaine England Hierusalem and Cyperus their Ambassadors euen from the Apostles tymes For otherwise I pray you how were it possible that the Patriarks of Hierusalem and Constantinople 70. Metropolitans 400. Bishops and 800. Conventuall Pryours who were all present at that great Counsell should all agree in declaring Transubstantiation to have been revealed by God to the primitive Church how can this agree with what Sall affirms

faith Doctor Vsher found between the Greeks Ruthenians Armenians c. For bringing them into his owne Church and Communion but if they agree in any Articles with the Protestant though they differ'd in many more 't was enough for Vsher to make them all Protestants as Fox made Saints of all Sectarys as in what wee have said before is prou'd But wee Catholicks doe not nor may not receive into our Communion and Church the said Greeks Ruthenians c. Though agreeing with us in many Articles becaus they differ in others according to that of Saint Iames Qui offendit in uno factus est omnium reus Wee are now to speak or to deal with Sall for his contumelious Language to witt for saying that the tenets of the Roman Church against the XXXIX Articles are false and Superstitious especially that of Transubstantiation as forcing upon Christians a beleef of monstrous Miracles c. of which I shall treat in the ensuing Chapter XX. CHAPTER Miracles are ttue and cleare marks of a true Religion and the power of working them hath been given to the true Church and remaines therin The Anger Sall hath conceived against Gods wonders caling Miracles Monstrous gave mee occation of enlargeing this Chapter A furious zeale in his new Religion hath made the man ungodly It was not enough for him in his Recantation to declare his minde in the ensuing words Wherfore I resolved to declare as I doe hereby seriously and in my hart without Equivocation or mentall Reservation in the Presence of God and this Congregation declare that I doe give my full and free assent to the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England for holy and wise and grounded upon the insalliable word of God But hee must alsoe add Acknowledging the Romish tenets against them to be false and Superstitious especially that of Transubstantiation as forcing upon Christians a beleefe of Monstrous Miracles repugnant to humane reason and not grounded upon divine Testimony nor necessary either for verifying Christ his words in the Institution of this Blessed Sacrament or for the effects of it Sall verè durus est hie sermo quis potest eum audire Let any Catholick Reader tell mee Nonquid haec est atrox homuncionis insultantis Christo Ecclesiae rabies I did not think poor Sall was come to such a hight of Impiety as to belch up soe virulent a contumely against Gods Wonders But let him bee as much discontented as hee will Miracles are owned by the pious and learned by the Bishop and the Peasant and by all true and Godly beleevers because they are wrought In Nomine virtute Dei omnipotentis wherfore the Doctrin of Miracles is well grounded and delivered from hand to hand a long from the Apostles Tymes and the Church is called Ecclesia Sancta Sanctitate Miraculorum It is true Sall you have passed to a Congregation of men that deny and contemne manifest Wonders because noe Miracles were ever done in theire Church I defy you to shew mee one Miracle wrought by any of Foxes Saints or any Protestant since your holy Father Luther first brought in Protestanisme tell mee when and where and the man that did the Wonder Sall I see you deale with Miracles as the Fox did with a faire ripe bunsh of grapes hee jumpt and leapt to bring downe the grapes but when hee could not reach them said they were green and worth nothing But whether I pray you shall I beleeve you in a kinde of rage against Gods wonders caling them Monstrous or Saint Thomas the Prince of devines teaching What a Miracle is dicit enim Quod S. Tom. part 1. quest 105. a 7. nomen Mirac●li ab Admiratione sumitur Admiratio autem consurgit cum effectus sunt manifesti causa occulta That is The Word Miracle coms from Admiration and this Admiration doth arise when the effects appeare and the cause is hidden Likewise Saint Augustin tells us what a Miracle is cum Deus saith the Saint Aliquid facit S. Aug. lib. de quest contra cognitum nobis cursum solitumque naturae magnalia vel mirabilia dicuntur When God doth any thing against the knowne course of nature and custome therof they are caled Magnalia or wonderfull things I pray you good Sall give God leave to doe wonderfull things by his Saints and servants to his owne Glory when it shall soe please him and be not angry therwith caling impudently these wonders Monstrous Miracles take rather Saint Augustins good Counsell speaking thus to you and mee and all men Dicamus Aliquid Deum posse quod nos fatemur investigare non posse in rebus enim mirabilibus tota ratio saciendi est potentia sacientis That is Let us say God is able to doe somthing that wee must confess wee are not able to search into or comprehend in wonderfull things the whole ground of doeing them is the power of him that can doe them That God hath Impowered those hee sent by an extraordinary way for converting Nations with the grace of working Miracles is a truth you will not deny having been evidently made appeare in the written Law and Law of Grace when the people see Miracles they beleeve the man that doth them is sent from God This made Moyses when hee was commaunded by God to lead the Israelits out of Egypt to answer God in these Exod. cap. 5. tearms The people will not beleeue mee nor heare my voyce but they will say our Lord hath not appeared to thee Hee proposed the difficulty of the Embassy wisely and God iudgd what hee sayd to carry great reason and therfore gaue him the power of doeing wonders and this suffised to make the people beleeue hee was sent from God with an extraordinary Authority Sall wee are still demaunding from your Prophets and Doctors Luther Caluin and the rest of them who say they were sent from God by an extraordinary mission to sanctify the world and to pull downe the whore of Babilon soe they name the Roman Church and alsoe you of England and all Protestants affirme the same to wit that Luther Calvin and the rest were impowered with extraordinary authority even as the true Prophets of God and other holy men that wrought Miracles for proving theire mission were sent from God in former ages but till this day you could never name any Miracles wrought by your Doctors Now if the Israelits would not take Moyses his word though hee was a holy man that hee was sent from God without doing wonders shall wee take Luther or Calvins word who shew'd noe Sanctity in theire manners but much impurity that they are sent from God without working Mitacles to prove it this would be in us a great folly There are three kinde of Miracles those of Christ those of the Apostles and Church Miracles if Sall and those of the English Church will not beleeve the two first kinde of Miracles they doe not credit the

Apostolicale will you heare these holy men speake in theire owne Cathechisme Albe it say they the substance of the Doctrine comprised Catebhisme VVest infine in the abridgment commonly called th' Apostles Creed be fully sett forth in each of the Cathechismes soe as there is noe necessity of incerting the Creed it selfe Yet it is here anexed not as though it were composed by the Apostles What new masters or rather Monsters are these What ungodly pestiferrous Doctrin is this to say and teach the Creed is a human Collection and not made by the Apostles this they declared as was said and after such Declaration they did not say it neither did they require it to be said any more of others as the custome was formerly at Babtising infants all this they did to put the Creed out of Estimation and use now this Innovation calling the Creed in question the beleevers therafter could be sure of nothing Thus the Presbyterians indeavered to dash th' Authority of the Cymbol the principall foundation of Religion O abomination of furious zealots that would change the Apostolicall Creed which was taught for such and soe beleeved and esteemed in all ages by the consent of all Christian Nations and said dayly by all the Servants of God young and old But against the Impiety of those men wee have the Authority and Testimony of all the ancient Fathers for the Credit and Estimation of the Creed Cardinall Barronius in the first tome of Baron Tom. 1. Annal. an 44. N. 15. seq his Annals doth shew by the Testimony of the holy and ancient Fathers that the Creed was composed by the holy Apostles a little before they were to part and goe into severall Countryes to preach the Ghospell unto the Gentils to the end there might bee a certaine short cleare rule of Faith in which they all agreed wherin they were to instruct all persons and by which as by a certaine badge all Christians might be knowne Be pleased now to heare the Fathers speak of the Symbol Saint Ambrose saith Let us beleeve the Symbol S. Amb. Serm. 18. Epist 81. of the Apostles which the Roman Church doth ever preserve and keepe inviolate Saint Hierom saith The Symbol of our Faith and hope which was delivered by th' Apostles is not written in Paper or Ink but in the fleshly Tables of the hart Saint Augustin speaks thus The comprehension Aug. Serm. 42. de trad and perfection of our Faith is the Creed It is simple saith hee short and full That its simplicity might serve the rudeness its shortness the Memory And its fullness the Instruction of the hearers Else where hee saith this is a Symboll brief in words but large in Misteryes for whatsoever is declared in the Scriptures or foretold by the Prophets c. is contained and briefly confessed in it To show the excellency of the Creed which is therfore to be often sayd Saint Augustin speaks thus Render Aug. homil fortitu your Symboll render it unto the Lord be not weary to rehearse it the repitition of it is good least forgetfullness creep one thee doe not say I sayd it yesternight I sayd it to day I say it every day I have it well Remember thy Faith Behold thy selfe let thy Creed be a mirrour unto the there see thy selfe if thou beleeve all that thou confessest thy selfe to beleeve and rejoyce dayly in thy Faith Let it be thy Riches the dayly apparell of thy Soule Doe you not cloath your selfe when you rise Soe by remembring thy Creed cloath thy Soule least per-adventure forgetfullness make it naked Saint Ambrose cales this the Seale of our Ambr. lib. 3. de Virgin Tom. 4. hart which wee ought dayly to review and the Watch-word of a Christian which should bee in a readiness in all dangers Wee have the Creed by an assured Tradition and Testimony of the Church which Saint Augustin holds of noe less certainty then the Scriptures as is signifyed by these words I would not have beleeved saith the Saint Aug. Cont. Epist fund Cap. 5. the Ghospell unless the Authority of the Catholick Church had moved mee c. And that Authority being once weakned neither can I beleeve the Ghospell Seeing these Presbiterians have abollished the Authority of the Cr●ed saying it is not Apostolicall what in Gods-name have these Doctors given to the People in place of the Symboll The holy Covenant and as the Creed is denyed by these men to be Apostolicall soe is the Covenant cry'd up to be Divine for they call it Gods Covenant and the Confession of the Scottish Kirck This was truly a rare exchange to deny the Creed to be Apostolique and to cry up the Covenant to be devine To Rob us of a most ancient clear briefe positive sacred Confession of Faith made by the holy Apostles famous in all ages and Universally received throughout the whole world full of great Misteryes and divine Expressions and to give us in place of it a new long obscure negative Confession or rather noe Confession of Faith full of terrible oathes Execrations and Combinations devised by some few discontented heads and by cunning and force obtruded upon the Nation much suspected at the beginning to bee nothing but a meere pretence of Religion as it was notoriously known to be a humane Invention and as it 's now at length after all its disguises manifested for such unto the World It 's good fame hath not lasted long neither at home nor a broad It gott some footing in England by cunning and worldly interest but these soone failing it was quickly detected and rejected The Christian Mediator sayth to this purpose That the last Reformation Christ Mod. pag. 2. settled with soe solemne a Covenant and carryed on with soe furious a zeal is already by better lights discovered to be meerly humane and therfor deseruedly layd aside These are the words of the converted Presbyterian Sall I would now faine know what is your Iudgement of these kinde of Protestants perhaps you will say they are noe Protestants but Geneva the acknowledged school of English and Scottish Protestants will tell you that Presbiterians are the purest Protestants of all and for ought I could ever learne the Church of England held and holds them soe according to Doctor Whitakers manner of speaking Tell mee Sall have you ever seen any act of Parlament in England declaring that Presbiterians are not Protestants or any penal lawes enacted against them noe such thing though they differ as was said from the Episcopall or Royall Protestants in fundamentall points of Religion that of the order and dignity of Episcopacy which they hold to bee Anti-Christian and Tyranicall and noe way de Iure Divino The other of the kings supremacy in Spiritualibus which they flatly deny they alsoe differ from the Kings Protestants in abollishing the Lords prayer and the Hymne of Glorification to the B. Trinity and in denying the Greed to be Apostolicall