Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	article_n	faith_n	scripture_n	1,684	5	5.7566	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41015	Roma ruens Romes ruine : being a svccinct answer to a popish challenge concerning the antiquity, unity, universality, succession, and perpetuall visibility of the true church even in the most obscure times, when it seemed to be totally eclipsed in the immediate ages before Luther / by Daniel Featley ...	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1644 (1644)	Wing F592; ESTC R4369	68,281	80

hence argue that the Arrians were orthodox or the Nestorians Catholikes or the Sadduces right beleevers Did you never read in S. Hilary the ministers of antichrist are 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 of their unity in their impiety if you ever read it could you choose but reflect upon your self as for us though we desire nothing more than that we may think one thing and that as we all agree in the love of truth so we might all professe that truth in love yet when piety and unity truth and concord are divided we say with Nazianzen a godly discord is better than an ungodly concord it is better to dissent for truth than consent in errour Here if you reply that you argue not barely from consent but from consent in the truth you fall again to your begging trade you suppose that which is the main point in question and bears all before it prove your doctrine to be the truth of God and take all A man would think that there should not be heard so much as the noyse of an hāmer among your workmen who stand so much for unity If there should be differences even in matter of saith necessary to salvation among us as there are not our controversies are de fimbriis non de textu of the lace and fringe of ceremonies not of the queens vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours I say if there were differences amongst us in substantiall points of faith this could be no strong argument against us who make not unitie an inseparable note of the true church but it utterly overthrows your church in your own judgment who determine peremptorily that where there is not unity there is no true church but I assume there is not unity in doctrin of faith amongst you therefore out of your own mouth I conclude you have no true church Although like Samsons soxes you are all tyed by the tayl that is the conclusions de fide set down by your false prophet teaching lyes whom the prophet Esay warranteth us to call the tayl yet your heads are as far asunder as may be and you draw almost in every controversie of faith contrary ways casuist against ca●●ist and canonist against canonist and canonist against casuist Dominicans against Franciscans and Sorbonists against Dominicam and Jesuits against all Neither are these quarrels {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but as Hercules his controversies was with Antens {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} about Scripture the rule of faith and Popes and councels the judges of faith and regenerating grace the cause of faith and justification the effect of faith and the sacraments the symbols of faith Your controversies are sharp and poinant and your differences irreconcilable you are at odds 1. Concerning scripture Some of you hold that the Jews have corrupted the originall of the old Testament as Iacobus episcop. Christop. and Canus and others deny it as Driedo and Bellarmine Some of you hold that the originall text of Greek and Hebrew are authenticall and that by them all translations are to be examined Others according to the strict letter of the Trent-canon hold the vulgar latin absolutely authenticall insomuch that no man quovis praeiextu upon any pretence whatsoever may reject it Some among you hold the books known by the name Apocrypha not to be of equall authoritie with the canonicall scriptures nor to be produced to ground any article of faith upon them Others carried away with the Trent-stream admit those apocryphall writings into the canon of scripture given by divine inspiration 2. Concerning the Decalogue Some of you teach that we are commanded to worship God even in the devill himself others disclaim this strange doctrin Some of you teach that the commandement non facies sculptile is not morall nor bindeth christians but part of the ceremoniall law and positive appertaining to Jewes onely others defend the contrary with us Some of you teach that images are not to be worshipped in themselvs or properly but only ratione prototyps in regard of the thing which they represent others defend that the image is to be worshipped in and for it self and not only in regard of the thing which it representeth Nay some blush not to maintain that the image is to be worshipped eodem cultus genere quo prototypon that is that the image of Christ is to be worshipped with the same worship wherewith we worship Christ to wit cultu latria that the image of the blessed Virgin is to be worshipped with the same worship wherewith we ought to worship the Virgin her self to wit cultu hyperdouliae that the images of saints are to be worshipped with the same worship wherewith the saints themselvs are to be worshipped to wit cultu doulia Some hold all equivocation before a magistrate to be unlawfull and forbidden in the commandement non dices falsum as being no better in plain english than a lye Others allow equivocation in divers cases 3. Concerning the blessed virgin Some earrestly maintain that she was conceived in sin as all the children of Adam are Christ only excepted others with as much vehe●●●cie both maintain the doctrin and celebrate the ●ea●● of her i●●●culane ●onception and though Sixtus the 4. took part with the Franc●… yet cardinall de Turre-Cremata writes for the D●… Mulciber in Trojam pr●●r●ja staba● Ap●ll● 4. Touching the grace of regeneration and the ●p●ration thereof in our conversion Some teach that it worketh physicè and determineth the will others teach that it worketh onely ●…liter standing as it were at the devotion of the will to admit of it or refuse it to be converted by it or not 5. Touching justification Som teach that we are not justified by our inherent righteousnesse as Pighius and o●he●s cited out of Vega others follow the common tenet affirming that the righteousnesse by which we are justified before God is not Christs imputed but out inherent righteousnesse 6. Touching certainty of salvation The learned know C●…rinus hath written in this point agreeable to the doctrine of the reformed churches as also how Dominious S●●● impug●eth his opinion 7. Touching marriage Some hold it lawfull for the innoce●t partie to marry after divorce for adultery others hold it utterly unl●wfull 8. Touching merit of works Some hold that the work● of a man in the state of grace merit ex condigno ratione operis eternall life others ex congruo onely and some utterly exclude all merit as they are cited out of Vega. 9. Touching sinns Some teach that all sins in their own nature are mortall others are for the schools distinction of v●●iall and mortall sinns 10. Touching the sacrament of the Lords supper Some teach that the body of Christ is made of the bread and allow of a kind of production in transubstantiation others defend transubstantiation by way of adduction not production Secondly so●e reach that the

if God strictly examin them or that true holinesse and sanctifying grace may be lost or that masses may be celebrated without communicants or that princes have not authority over ecclesiasticall persons or that images are to be adored or that men may merit by their works eternall life or that a child of God ought to doubt of Gods mercy and may not be assured of his salvation or that it belongeth not to princes to call ecclesiasticall assemblies or that the church in the most strict sense consisteth not of the elect only or that the whole church consisting of laity as well as clergy may not participate the mysteries of the body and blood of Christ entirely drinking of the holy cup as well as eating of the bread Let him be accursed Methinks I hear you already cry out with her in the Poet Heu patior telis vulnera facta me●s O● with the eagle in Iulians m●tto feeling her self deadly wounded with an arrow feathered out of her own wing Nostris configimur alis PARAG. XIX Concerning the faith of Constantine CHALLENGE Or lastly if you desire to go neerer to the times of the apostles we will joyn with you to prove our faith in the days of Constantine the great who first built and opened christian churches and gave freedom for christians to come together and to know and publish to the world what was held by them which before could not so well be done by reason of the perfec●tions in which the church had been 〈◊〉 then generally eclipsed Answer From S. Gregory you step up immediately to Constantine the great and at once stride over 300 years in which time the prime and flower of the Greek and Latin fathers lived and dyed would none of them father your Church You take an oath if you be magistri in theologia to expound scripture non ●isi juxta una●… c●●sensum patrum according to the unanimous consent of the fathers this joynt consent can very hardly be found in the interpretation of the ●…ures before Constanti●●s time because few before that time commented upon the holy scripture at least whose works are come to our hands and therefore you should have especially instanced in the fathers from Constantines time to S. Grego●●s but as Festus answered Paul so think I fit to answer you Ca●…em appell●…●d C●sarem ibis you have appealed to Constantine and to Constantine you shall go of whom I may say truely that which the Fre 〈…〉 sometimes spake before him glo●ingly tu no 〈…〉 ill●● 〈◊〉 faci●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Britains by ●●y 〈◊〉 for though Li●… he●… not Iustus goeth about to rob us of this brouch and brightest lustre of our nation denying us the honour of his birth as you do of his faith yet I doubt not but to make good against him and you that Constantine is ours body and soul and to resolve you in point of his birth and native soyle which was this our Iland I refer you to Baronius for his faith to Eusebius Socrates Sozomen Arnobius Lactantius Minutius Foelix Athanasius Epiphanius and Greg. Nazianzen and divers others who lived in the same time or not long after him Let the faith generally beleeved and received in the age wherein this blessed Emperour lived serve as a touchstone to examine our pure and precious and your drossie and counterfeit faith and first let us begin with the ground of all faith the holy scriptures 1. We teach that the canon of the old testament consisteth of 22. books only excluding the apocryphall which your councell of Trent confoundeth with the canonicall Let the first quaere then be whether did the church in Constantines time hold with your canon or ours To this let the councell of Laodicea speak qua autem oporteat legi in authoritatem recipi haec sunt Genesis Exodus c. These books which ought to be read and received as authenticall and canonicall are these following Gen. Exod c. In which catalogue none of the apocryphall books are mentioned Let Athanasius inform us who reckons but 22. books of the old testament as we do and after him Greg. Nazian. most expresly brandeth the apocrypha with a note of bastardy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Which Greek verses a wel-willer to your church hath translated into Latin At tua ne libris fallatur mens alienis Hunc habeas certum numerum a me lector ●●ice Tot nempe Hebr●● quot sunt elementa loquelae Quicquid pratorea est hand inter certa loc andu● The Greek word for word is thus to be Englished I have s●● down 22. books of the old testament agreeable to the number of the Hebrew letters ●●d 〈◊〉 ●e found any besides these ●… to be counted among the true and genuine books of the old Testament 2. We with Tertullian adore the ple●●tude of scriptures a●●ibing to them this perfection that they contain in them all things necessary to salvation You maintain on the contrary that the written word alone is not a sufficient and perfect rule and therefore you add unto it the unwritten word which you call crad●ion Which part did Constantine take and the church in his time let Athanasius be heard in this case Sufficiunt per se sacroe divin● us inspiratae lu●rae ad veritatis indicationem The holy inspired scriptures are sufficient of themselvs for the declaration of the truth let ●a●tanti●● be heard Cyprian was so ravished with the excellent knowledge of the holy scriptures that he was content with them alone upon which faith is built Let us hear Constantine himself who sitting in a golden chair as president and moderator in the first and most famous councell of Nice recommendeth the books of the old and new testament to the fathers assembled in that councell in these words the books of the evangelists and apostles and the oracles of the ancient prophets do plainly instruct us what to conceive of divine matters therefore setting aside all enmity and discord let us from the words inspired by God take the resolution of those things that are in question which most christian direction of this most noble Emperour swayed much with the fathers in that synod yet cardinall Bellarmin makes light of it and gives the Emperour a slurr for it lib. 4. de verbe Dei non scripto cap. 11. Respondeo hoc testimonium non esse tanti faciendum erat enim Constantinus magnus Imperator non magnus ecclesiae Doctor I answer that this testimony is not of so great moment for Constantine was indeed a great Emperour but not a great Doctor of the church 3. We teach that the wood of Christs crosse is not to be worshipped at all much lesse with divine worship you teach on the contrary that the crosse of Christ is to be adored cultu latria that is with the highest kind of

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or rather we offer a commemoration of that sacrifice I● S. Chrys●stome had beleeved as you now do that the true body of Christ is properly offered and his blood truely shed in the daily sacrifice of the masse he should have corrected his former correction of himself and said what said I we rather offer a memoriall of Christs sacrifice nay rather we offer the very sacrifice it self Christs body and blood and that truely and properly 7. We teach that images may not be set up in churches to worship God by thē much lesse to worship the images themselvs you on the contrary maintain the erecting censing clothing kissing kneeling before and worshipping of images From which idolatry superstition how fat the church was in Constantines age appears by the canon of the councell of Eliberis the act of Epiphanius the judgement of Eusebius and the joynt testimony of Minutius Felix and Lactantius The 36 canon of the councell of Eliberis is very expresse against images and pictures in churches placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere ne quod colitur aut adoratur in parictibus depingatur It seemed good to us or we have determined that no images or pictures be in churches lest that which is worshiped and adored be painted on the walls When S. Epiphanius saw that canon neglected and the law of God violated in that poynt his zeal kind●ed within him he tare down a v●il rent it in the middle which he found hanging on the church walls at Anablathra because it had on it an image as it had bin of Christ or some saint More over he gave charge to those of that place not to hang up any more such veils against the expresse command of God Eusebius was no better affected to images then Epiphanius for in his epistle to Constantia who desired him to send her an image of Christ he contendeth by many arguments that no true image of Christ may be drawn neither according to his divine nature nor according to his humane not according to his divine because no man hath ●ver seen or can see that not according to his humane because we have learned that his humane nature or form of a servant is ●ingled with or united to the glory of his divine dignity and who will undertake with dead colours to expresse the brightnesse of that glory and dignitie Minutius Felix upon another reason dislikes the dedicating of any image to God put a● nos occultare quod credimus si delubra ar as non habemus quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam eum si recte existimes sit dei homo ipse simulacrum Dost thou think that we conceal what we worship because we have no place for images nor altars I pray what images shall I make to God seeing if we judge rightly man himself is Gods image Lactantius is warmer in the cause he concludes peremptorily that religion and images cannot stand together wherefore out of doubt there is no religion where there is an image therefore out of doubt none in your church where there are so many images for if religion be a divine thing and there is nothing divine but in things that are heavenly images therefore are voyd of religion because there can be nothing hea●enly in that thing which is of the earth The same Lactantius lib. 2. divinarum institut cap. 2. excludes all images even of the true God as needlesse and super●●uous the image of a man seems then to be needfull when the man himself i● away but it is of no use when he is present therefore the image of God is ever superfluous and of no use because his spirit and deity being every where present can never be absent from us You see he layes hard at your images and he endeavours as vehemently to blow out your wax lights They light candles to God as if he were in the dark can he be thought well in his wits who offers candles or wax lights to God for a gift who is the author and giver of all light If this strong breath of Lactantius being but single cannot blow out the lights that burn continually in your churches yet methinks the joynt and conspiring breath of all the fathers assembled in the councell at Eliberis cannot but puff them quite out It is to be forbidden that candles be publikely lighted if any do presume to do otherwise let them keep from the communion In fine to draw the arrow you have put into Constantines bow to the head against the errors and superstitions of your present Romish church prove to me by any good and uncontrolable testimony that publike service in an unknown tongue or masses without communicants or communion of the laity without the cup or making images of the three persons of the Trinity or worshipping images or crosses or selling pardo●● for the release of souls out of purgatory or elevation or circumgestation of the host in pompous procession or praying upon beads or hallowing meddals and Agnus Dei's or blessing salt spittle water c. or christening bells and gallies or going on pilgrimage to the images of Christ our Lady and other saints or whipping themselvs in penance for their own sins or the sins of others or such like customs and fites of your now Romish church were in practice in Constantine his time Prove that the treasury of saints merits and works of supererogation or unwritten traditions in matter of faith or justification before God by inherent righteousnes or any sin in its own nat●re veniall and not against the law of God but only beside it or esteeming the Apocryphall books of the old testament for canonicall scriptures or equalizing the Latin vulgat translation of the old and new testament to the originalls in Hebrew Greek or seven sacraments properly so called or the Popes infallibitie or his transcendent authority to gratifie or disannull the acts of generall councells to canonize saints to dispence with oaths and vows to depose kings and dispose of their kingdoms or the suspending the effect of the sacrament upon the intention of the priest or accidents without subjects or rats and mice eating Christs body or the putting it in many thousand places at once or any the like assertions of your Romish doctors were any part of Constantines beleef and the day shall be yours In the mean time if as your challenge and the promise of your friends deeply engage you you shall think of a reply to this my answer I require three things of you First that according to our Saviour his rule you mete the same measure to me which I mete to you by setting down my whole answers in my own words that the reader may see what you answer to each particular and what you balk as also how direct and pertinent your replyes shall be Secondly that you be not guilty of that which