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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	ghost_n	holy_a	3,012	5	4.8241	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53946	The antiquity of the Protestant religion with an answer to Mr. Sclater's reasons, and the collections made by the author of the pamphlet entitled Nubes Testium : in a letter to a person of quality : the first part.	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1687 (1687)	Wing P1072; ESTC R1036	27,540	74

THE ANTIQUITY OF THE Protestant Religion WITH AN ANSWER TO Mr. Sclater's REASONS AND THE COLLECTIONS Made by the Author of the Pamphlet ENTITLED NUBES TESTIUM In a Letter to a Person of Quality The First Part. LONDON Printed for Ben. Griffin and are to be sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1687. IMPRIMATUR Hen. Maurice Rmo P. D. Wilhelmo Archiepiscopo Cant. à Sacris Dec. 13. 1686. ERRATA PAge 15. l. 6. for Aeneus read Aeneas in the Margint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 22. l. 14. f. Canon r. Canons p. 31. l. 20. f. where r. were p. 41. l. 7. f. moduling r. modelling p. 59. l. 11. f. Contro-sie r. Controversie THE ANTIQUITY OF THE PROTESTANT RELIGION With an Answer to Mr. Sclaters Reasons and the Collections made by the Author of the Pamphlet entitled Nubes Testium SIR VVHEN I receiv'd your Letter I did at first a little wonder that such a knowing person should desire me to give a plain and particular proof of that Point which we Protestants do stand upon that our Religion was Anciently and Generally profest in the Christian World before the Reformation For the matter seems so clear to those who converse with Books and will not suffer themselves to be govern'd by partiality of judgment that we may well be amazed at the great confidence of the Divines in the Church of Rome who would fain perswade you to believe the contrary whether out of a design or by means of their violent Passions and prejudices I will not say It is indeed taken for granted by people on that side that at the Reformation their Church was the only Catholick Church in the World and that their Faith was undoubtedly True and Primitive in all its particulars because otherwise the Church as they conceive must have failed and the Promises of God touching his preserving and assisting his Church to the Worlds end must have come to nothing Upon which false suppositions they run away at all rates with many strange notions of Vs and of the Reformation believing and giving it out that we forsook the True Church which was entitled to Gods Patronage and Guardianship and did set up a new Religion which no good Christians ever own'd and therefore that we must needs be in a miserable and lost condition Seeing then the difference between us is so wide either They or We must necessarily be under a very great mistake And therefore in compliance with your commands I shall indeavour to satisfie you that the mistake lies not on our side especially since the Author of the Nubes Testium and Mr. Sclater in his Consensus veterum have taken so much pains to possess the World with a Notion to the contrary In the prosecution of this matter I shall 1. First take as short and as particular a view as I can of the State of Christianity from the Primitive times to the Reformation and shew you how the Doctrines we profess were generally profest and own'd from Age to Age in those Churches which are nearer home 2. That at the Reformation and before the Faith of those Churches which are more Remote and distant from Us was the same with Ours in most of those material points which lie now under debate And when these Two things are cleared several inferences will easily follow which will abundantly serve to justifie Our Reformation and to discharge the Protestant Religion from those Imputations which are commonly but unjustly cast upon it 1. First let us look into the condition of Religion from the Primitive Ages to the time of the Reformation and see if those Doctrines which we Protestants profess were not profest and own'd from Age to Age before ever the Name of Protestant became a characteristical note of Distinction And for the clearing of this I think it too tedious to gather up Sentences and ends of Sayings out of the Ancients as Mr. Sclater and the Author of the Nubes Testium have endeavour'd to do For they know well that we have a Catalogus Testium to which their Nubes is but as it were of a Hands breadth And besides the latter of these doth ingenuously confess That many things in the Ancient Fathers are Obscure that their Preface pag. 3. Names have been prefixt to Books of which they were never the Authors and that additions have been made to some of their writings besides the divers mistakes of Transcribers in the publishing of their Works The most effectual way therefore will be to observe the Doctrines of the Ancients in their Disputations and Controversies with the Adversaries of the Truth and that either when they purposely wrote against some known Error and generally used the same arguments as so many Received Principles or when they met together in Councils to settle matters by publick Canons and Definitions These observations will more readily and more certainly help us to understand the sense of the Ancient Church than our having recourse to this or that passage in particular Authors So that if it be made appear that our Religion is agreeable to that which the Ancients did in their Disputations and Assemblies maintain as the Primitive Faith you need not enquire further for your satisfaction nor trouble your self with Heaps of quotations out of single Authors unless you have a mind to gratifie your Curiosity and for that you may consult Bishop Taylors Disswasive or Bishop Mortons Appeal or Bishop Vshers Answer to the Jesuites challenge which the Writers in this Age would do well to try if they can Answer But to go to our business It is notorious that the first great Controversies in the Church were about the Common Doctrines of Christianity a great many Hereticks for divers Ages from Simon Magus downward to Pope Honorius and the rest of the Monothelites violently opposing some the Reality of Christs Humane Nature some his Divinity some the Distinction between his two Natures some the Divinity of the Holy Ghost as a distinct Person from the Father and the Son and the like general Principles which the Christian Church held Against these Seducers not only Books were written by the Primitive Fathers severally but divers Councils were called the first a Local Synod at Antioch against Paulus Samosatenus who taught that our Saviour was a meer Man. After this Six general Councils met The First at Nice against Arius for asserting that Christ Jesus was a Creature The Second at Constantinople against the Eunomians and Sabellians and the rest that affirm'd the Holy Ghost to be a Creature too the Third at Ephesus against Nestorius for reviving the Arian Heresie The Fourth at Chalcedon against Eutyches who own'd the Divine and Humane Nature too yet taught that upon the Vnion of them both were mixt Absorpt and Transubstantiated into One The Fifth at Constantinople again to stifle a fresh the Nestorian Blasphemy and the Sixth there also against Pope Honorius and his Associates who own'd as but one Nature as Eutyches did so but