Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	faith_n	scripture_n	5,932	5	6.0033	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61596	Scripture and tradition compared in a sermon preached at Guild-Hall Chapel, Novemb. 27, 1687 / by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1688 (1688)	Wing S5632; ESTC R14282	19,664	34

the Book of the Law which was found in the House of the Lord. This was the Rule by which Hilkiah the High Priest thought it necessary for Iosiah to go by and not by any Tradition left among them concerning the Law which God had given by Moses 3. This was that which our Saviour appealed to in all his Disputes search the Scriptures saith he to the Iews not run to your Traditions for those were then very corrupt especially about the Messias as that he was to be a Temporal Prince c. which was then a dangerous and fundamental mistake and therefore Christ appeals from them to the Scriptures And they are they which testifie of me Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me but if ye believe not his Writings how shall ye believe my words And our Saviour severely checks the Pharisees for regarding their own Traditions more than the Written Law. And yet they pretended to an Oral Tradition down from Moses as the Jews do to this day and none are more grosly deceived than they 4. The general Sense and Experience of Mankind agrees herein that all matters of consequence are more certainly preserved by Writings than by meer words There is no Invention hath been more valued by the Wiser part of Mankind than that of Letters because it is of such excellent use for conveying the sense of our minds at a distance to others All men have so great a mistrust either of the capacity or memory or fidelity of others that what they would have done with security they commit to Writing And whatever we truly understand of the Ages before us we are beholden to Writing for it all those memorable Actions and Institutions either of Philosophy or Religion which were not written are long since buried in Oblivion without possibility of a Resurrection But where they have been committed to Writing they are preserved after so many Ages and by it we certainly know the History of the Patriarchs and the strange Revolutions that happened from the beginning of the World. By it we converse with the Wisest persons of former times and were able to justifie the Scriptures by the concurrent Testimonies of other Writers By it we are enabled to interpret Prophecies and to make plain their accomplishments which without it we could never make out Yea by it the Wisdom of those is preserved for the benefit of mankind who thought fit to write nothing themselves as Socrates and Pythagoras but their Disciples took care in time to Write their Doctrines So that we have the general Consent of the wisest part of mankind that writing is a far more certain way of conveyance than meer Tradition 2. And especially in our case where there are so many particular advantages as to the Holy Scriptures above any other Writings 1. From the special Providence of God with respect to them for since it is agreed by all Christians that these were written by Divine Inspiration it is most reasonable to believe that a more than ordinary care would be taken to preserve them And therefore to suppose any Books of Scripture to be lost which contained any necessary points of Faith is a great Reflexion on Divine Providence For if God watches over his Church he cannot be supposed to let such Books be lost which were designed for the universal and lasting Benefit of his Church 2. From the mighty esteem which the Church of God had always for them for they built their Hopes of Heaven upon the promises contained in them The Book of Scripture was their Evidence for their future Inheritance the Foundation of their Hope and Rule of their Faith their Defence against Assaults and Temptations their Counseller in cases of Difficulty their Support under Troubles and their surest Guide to a happy Eternity and therefore the Primitive Christians chose rather to endure any Torments than basely to betray it and give it up to their Enemies 3. From the early disputes that were about them Which shews that they were no Invention of after times nor were brought into the World by Stealth and Art for they endured the greatest shock of Opposition at first while the matters of Fact concerning them were the most easily proved And having passed the severe Scrutiny of the first Ages when so many counterfeit Writings were sent abroad the following Ages could have no Reason to call their Authority in question 4. From the general consent of divided Churches about them It might have pleased God to have kept his Church from those unhappy Breaches which have been in all parts of the Christian World but the East and the West the North and the South can all bear Testimony to the sad Divisions of Christendom and those of many Ages standing But yet we have this considerable Advantage by them that we can have no Reason to mistrust a conspiracy where the several Bodies are so much divided 5. From the great internal satisfaction which the minds of good Men have concerning them and which no other writing can pretend to give For here we read of the Promise of Divine Assistance to sincere and humble minds And that Assistance carries a Lumen Fidei into the mind as Aquinas calls it 2. 2. a 3 ad 2. and by that he saith the mind is united to Truth that its assent is only fixed upon it and therefore there is no danger of Damnation to those who are in Christ Iesus and are thus illuminated by Faith in him Not that this is an Argument to convince others who have not that inward sense which they have but the same Holy Spirit which did at first indite them may give such an inward and effectual Testimony as to the Truth of the matter contained in them that from thence they may firmly conclude these Books to contain the word of God. And that Assurance which the minds of good Men have from the Influence of Divine Grace may be more effectual and powerful in them than all the pretended Infallibility or Demonstration in the World. It is certain those cannot be deceived whom the Holy Spirit teacheth and the best and wisest of the Antient Schoolmen did make the great firmness and certainty of Faith not to depend on outward Motives but on inward Grace which so inlightned the Mind and fixed the Inclinations of the Soul that nothing is able to remove it This sort of Faith is no blind Assent but after all the Evidence which it hath to make its Assent Reasonable it takes so fast a hold of Divine Truths by discerning the excellency and value of them that he that hath it is willing to let go any thing rather than that and although the Apprehension of Faith be not so clear as that of Science yet the Hypostasis as the Apostle calls it may be so firm that no Temptations may be able to shake it And he that can die for his Religion hath a stronger and better Faith than

it necessary then that those things which concerned the Life and Doctrine of Christ should be put into Writing that they might be more certainly convey'd and that while they had the Testimony of those who were eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word 2. And so I come to the second Rule of discerning the Primitive Doctrine of Christ viz. The Writings of the Apostles when matters of Doctrine came to be contested were the Infallible Rule whereby they were to judge which was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ. There are some who pretend that the Apostles Writings were meerly Accidental and Occasional things but that the main design was to lodge the great Assurance of the Doctrine of Christ in Tradition from one to another and what they wrote was not to make any Rule of Faith but only to give some good Advice to those Churches they wrote to But I shall now prove that the Writings of the Apostles were intended by the Holy Ghost to be a standing Rule whereby the Church was to judge which was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ. 1. From the Reasons and Occasions of writing the Books of the New Testament 1. As to the Gospels we must distinguish the General Reason of writing them from the particular Occasions as to the several Gospels The General Reason is to be drawn from the Divine Wisdom which inspired and guided them the particular Occasions relate to the circumstances of writing them The General Reason is that which Irenaeus gives viz. That the Gospel which they had first preached was by the Will of God put into Writing that it might be a Foundation and Pillar of our Faith. Not meerly to keep up the Remembrance of it which Fevardentius yields and thereby overthrows the Infallibility of Oral Tradition but that so it may be a certain Rule of Faith to all Ages The Evangelists saith St. Augustin were but Christs Hands which himself as the Head directed in writing the Gospels and therefore we are to look on the Gospels as his own Hand-writing The Holy Ghost saith he directed the Minds of the Evangelists as to the order and manner of their Writing Which varied according to the particular Occasions but yet were all subservient to the General Reason St. Matthew wrote the first Gospel saith Eusebius to the Jews to whom he had preached because going into other parts he would supply the want of his Presence among them by his Writing What need this if Tradition were a certain and infallible way of conveying the Doctrine of Christ St. Chrysostom saith the Jewish Christians desired him to put into Writing what they had heard him Preach Did not they understand the force of Tradition better Or why should St. Matthew put them out of an Infallible Way The Authority of the Imperfect Work on St. Matthew saith they desired him to write his Gospel that where ever they went they might carry an Account of their Faith with them Clemens Alexandrinus saith the occasion of writing St. Marks Gospel was that the people were not satisfied with an unwritten delivery of the Holy Doctrine and therefore importuned Mark who was the Disciple of St. Peter that he would leave a Monument of his Doctrine in Writing which St. Peter understanding by Revelation approved and confirmed his Gospel for the use of the Churches Origen saith he wrote it according to St. Peters directions Epiphanius saith by his Authority Athanasius saith it was dictated by him at Rome It seems that Peter himself did not think fit to leave the Doctrine of Christ to an Oral Tradition even at Rome but Irenaeus thinks it was written after St. Peters decease who therein differs from the rest and shews how uncertain meer Tradition is Tertullian saith St. Marks Gospel was attributed to St. Peter and St. Lukes to St. Paul. St. Ierom mentions the Opinion of some that when St. Paul saith according to my Gospel he means that of St. Luke But St. Luke himself plainly gives an Account of the occasion of his Writing St. Ambrose thinks by those who had taken in hand to write of those things which were firmly believed among us he means the Authors of the counterfeit Gospels as that of the Twelve Apostles and St. Matthias But we have no evidence that these were older than St. Luke his meaning is that in those parts where he was there were some who did undertake to give an Account of the Life and Actions of Christ who wanted the Advantages which he had having had great opportunities of knowing circumstances from the Eye-witnesses and therefore he set himself to give an exact Relation of them that not only Theophilus but every one that answers his name might know the certainty of those things wherein they had been instructed But did not they know the certainty of these things by the Apostles Preaching Yes but the things they heard might slip out of their Memories and to prevent this saith Theophylact St. Luke wrote his Gospel that they might retain these things with greater certainty And words that are only spoken are more easily misunderstood which Maldonat assigns as one great Reason of the Evangelists writing their several Gospels St. Iohn likewise gives an account himself of the Reason of his Writing and that the greatest imaginable But these are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Why written that ye might believe Did the Apostle in his old Age mistrust the understandings or the Memories of Christians Was not the Apostles Teaching sufficient to keep up the Principles of the Christian Faith in the hearts of the people no not while St. Iohn himself was yet living He had certainly a very mean Opinion of Tradition that thought it necessary for him to write that they might believe that Iesus is the Son of God. For there was no point of Faith more necessary than this which was required of all Persons to be owned before Baptism Yet for all this and whatever else can be said St. Iohn thought it necessary that these things be written that they might believe He lived the longest of any of the Apostles and therefore saw how little Tradition was to be trusted for it was already corrupted in so weighty a point as the Divinity of Christ. Cerinthus and his Followers allow'd the general Tradition of the Church that Iesus was the Son of God but then they gave their own sense of it by extraordinary Favour and Adoption And from hence the Fathers agree that St. Iohn took occasion to write his Divine Gospel to clear this Fundamental point of the Christian Faith. And withal observing that the other Evangelists insisted chiefly on the Actions of Christ for one year viz. after Johns Imprisonment he resumes the whole matter and adds those things which were omitted by the rest that so