Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	law_n	moses_n	people_n	3,133	5	5.0838	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61810	The peoples right to read the Holy Scripture asserted in answer to the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th chapters, of the second part of the Popish representer.	Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing S5938; ESTC R9008	62,942	97

more of the Commandments than what they find in their Catechism 5. As to the Sacraments Had he not need trust strongly who believes that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Order in saying Do this w Rhemes Test Annot. in Luke 22. v. 19. Abridgment of Christ Doct. p. 184 185. Behold here the Lights the Vulgar Papist enjoys Is it not now as manifest as Light it self That whosoever reproaches him with Blindness in the midst of so many Lights may with as good Reason prove him to be in the dark when Noon-day shines upon him Especially considering That besides these Books the Church hath given direction to all Parish-Priests to explicate on Sundays and Holy-days the Gospel and some Mystery of the Faith to such as are under their Charge c. But have we not reason to believe that the Explications of their Parish Priests are answerable to those we meet with in their Books and then notwithstanding these Helps and Assistances not only some but many of his Church may believe without understanding who cannot be condemned of Negligence and Sloth in the use of those means their Church has provided for them And if the Parish-Priests are generally as ignorant as many Learned Men of the Church of Rome tell us they are even they themselves believe without understanding and therefore much more the People But by what follows the Vulgar Papists are very blame-worthy if they know not the Scripture better than the Vulgar of any other Communion For it is an unquestionable Truth that when a Book contains high Mysteries of Religion Mysteries superior to all Sense and Reason and those not deliver'd in expressions suited to every Capacity but obnoxious to various interpretations that the People is in all probability likely to have more of the true sense of this Book and to be better informed of the Truth of the Mysteries it contains who are instructed in it by the Learned of that Communion and taught it by their Pastors Prelats and those whom God hath placed over them to govern and feed the Flock than any other People who have the Book put into their own hands to read it and search it and satisfie themselves In answer to which I shall propose a few Questions to the Representer 1st Whether it be an unquestionable Truth that when a Book contains not only high Mysteries but such things as for the far greater part are not above the Capacity of the Vulgar that he shall have more of the true sense of this Book who is instructed in it by his Pastors only than he who is instructed in it by them and studies it himself too In all Sciences there are some Mysteries now is he likely to understand any other Science better who takes only the Instructions of his Teachers than he who together with them diligently studies it himself also 2. Suppose nothing but high Mysteries were contained in this Book yet may not he as well understand these Mysteries who is instructed in them by the Learned and searches them himself as he that trusts only to the Instructions of the Learned 3. Is it for the sake of these high Mysteries that the reading of this Book is forbidden the Vulgar If so then 1. Why was it not forbidden sooner since these Mysteries were in it from the Beginning 2. Why are other Books publish'd for their use in which are Mysteries superior to all Sense and Reason and those not deliver'd in expressions suited to every Capacity but such as may be wrested by the Vnlearned and Vnstable to their own destruction Such I mean as the Contemplations of the Life and Glory c. Jesus Maria Joseph c. And therefore 4. Is it not evident that it is not for the sake of the Mysteries but of those things which are too plain and obvious to vulgar understandings that the reading of this Book is prohibited But he confirms what he says both by Reason and Scripture 1. By Reason Are not the Pastors more capable of teaching the People than the People are of teaching themselves An admirable Reason Let us see how it will hold in other matters Is not the Master or Tutor more capable of teaching the Scholar than the Scholar is of teaching himself He therefore will have more of the true sense of any Book in Logick Physicks or Metaphysicks that never looks into the Book himself but only hears a Lecture once in a Week or Month from his Tutor upon some part of it than he that makes the Book his constant study 2. As admirable are the Proofs from Scripture We know Moses gave the Book of the Law to the Levites to keep and read it every seven years to the People And in King Jehosaphat 's Reign the Priests and Levites did read it and teach the People so did Jeremy by God's Command so Isaiah so Ezekicl And did not our Blessed Saviour take the Book of the Prophet and read it and expound it to the People And was not this the Office of the Apostles and Deacons c. The Argument is this The Priests and Levites read the Book of the Law and taught the People so did Jeremy Isaiah and Ezekiel Yea our Saviour and his Apostles read and expounded the Scripture to the People Therefore they will understand more of the true sense of the Scripture who never read it than those who do What pity was it that Moses and the Prophets and our Saviour and his Apostles did not understand the force of this Argument for if they had they would no doubt have forbidden the People to read the Scripture and then we had never been pester'd with those Sects and Heresies that spring from it But they were altogether unacquainted with the Roman Politicks Tho therefore they read the Scripture to the People themselves and read it in the vulgar Tongue yet they left it free to the People to read it and not only so but laid it as a Duty upon them He adds For this intention was Ananias sent to Saul Peter to Cornelius and Philip to the Eunuch who professedly own'd he could not understand the Prophet in so necessary a Point as that of the Messias without an Interpreter x P. 51. None of which Instances make any thing for him but that of the Eunuch makes much against him For the Eunuch was reading the Prophet Isaiah tho he could not understand him and St. Chrysostom y Hom. 35. in Genes and others z Non intelligebat Scripturae sensum homo prophanus idiota tamen quoniam pio studio legebat subito mittitur illi Philippus interpres vertitur Eunuchus in virum tingitur aquâ ater Aethiops niveo agni immaculati vellere induitur subitoque ex mancipio prophanae Reginae fit servus Iesu Christi Eras Epist l. 29. Epist 82. observe that God as a Reward of his Diligence and Piety in doing what he was able sent him a Teacher And what follows hence First that they ought not

denied to the Vulgar yet when they are charged with it by Protestants they either take the confidence plainly to deny it or if they own the Charge as the Representer doth they endeavour to put such glosses upon it as to make their denial of the Scripture to be in effect but a better way of granting it For since it is not the words of the Bible but the sense and meaning of the words that is properly the Word of God while they withhold from them the Letter they provide means to acquaint them with the Spirit or the true sense of Scripture and so deliver it to them with much more advantage than People of any other Perswasion have it What others have formerly written for their Vindication in this Matter it is needless now to examine since it is not to be supposed but that the Representer hath said as much to the purpose as any of those who have gone before him I shall therefore confine the ensuing Discourse to what he hath said in his 6th 7th 8th 9th and 10th Chapters And that it may be the more clear and satisfactory I shall shew these four Things I. What is the Practice of the Church of Rome in this Matter II. That this Practice is plainly contrary to the Will of God to the Reason of the Thing and to the Practice of the Christian Church for more than a thousand Years after Christ III. The insufficiency of those Reasons by which the Representer endeavours to justify it IV. Vindicate those Inferences the Protestants draw from it All that is said by the Representer may I think be reduced to one or other of these Heads CHAP. I. THough some may think it needless to insist upon the first of these since what the Protestants charge the Church of Rome with in this Matter is freely enough owned by the Representer himself * Chap. 6. p. 45 46. Chap. 7. p. 52. Chap. 9. p. 57. yet because some of that Communion here in England who for prudential Reasons are not so straitly tied up do confidently deny it it may not be amiss for their information to give some short account of it from better Authority than that of the Representer For which we need go no further than the fourth Rule of the Trent Expurgatory Index which is this Since it is manifest by experience that if the Holy Bible be promiscuously permitted in the vulgar Tongue by reason of the rashness of Men more Loss than Profit will thence arise In this Matter let the Judgment of the Bishop or Inquisitor be stood to that with the advice of the Parish Priest or Confessor they may grant the reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue translated by Catholick Authors to such as they shall understand can receive no hurt by such reading but increase of Faith and Piety Which Faculty let them have in writing But he that without such Faculty shall presume to read or to have the Bible he may not receive Absolution of his Sins except he first deliver up his Bible to the Ordinary If any Man shall say That this Rule hath not the force of a Law Monsieur de Maire Counsellor Almoner and Preacher to the King of France in a Book published by Authority shall give him an Answer This Rule saith he is founded in Ecclesiastical Right and no Man can transgress it without contradicting that Obedience which he owes to the Church and the Holy See from which it hath received its Confirmation Forasmuch as this Rule was not made but in prosecution of the Decree of the Council of Trent c. no Man can deny but that it hath been approved by the Holy Sea and authorized by the Bulls of Pius IV and Clement VIII who after they had view'd and diligently examin'd it publish'd it to the World with Order that it should be obey'd (b) Enfin je maintiens que cette Regle est fondeé en droict Ecclesiastique et qu' on ne la peut violer sans choquer l'obeïssance qu' l'on doit à l'Eglise c. Le Sanctuaire serme aux Profanes part 3. c. 1. p. 335 336. If says he there be any thing that can hinder this Rule from having the Force of a Law it must be either because it hath not been published or being published hath not been received but neither the one nor the other can be said since it is evident that this is the old Quarrel we have with our Hereticks that this is that which our Church hath always been upbraided with by the Enemies of the Faith this is that which is the Subject of their most outragious Calumnies this is that which hath been acknowledged by 〈◊〉 wise Men that which hath been earnestly maintained by all the Defenders of Catholick Truths c Ce que personne n' ignore ce que tout le monde publie n' y aiant point de creance plus commune ny plus generale parmy les fidels c. Ibid. that which no Person is ignorant of that which the whole World publishes there being no Point of Belief more common nor more general among the Faithful than this of the Prohibition to read the Bible without permission And this Belief so common is says he a certain Proof not only of the publication but of the reception of this Rule It cannot be denied but that it hath been received by all those Nations by which the Decrees of Trent were universally received And so they were as Pallavicino tells us d Pallav. l. 24. c. 9 11 12 13. in Italy Spain Sicily Portugal Poland the greater part of Germany and many other Countries But suppose this Rule were not received as imposed by the Council of Trent yet in all Popish Countries they have made it a Law to themselves It is not indeed observed in France upon the Authority of the Council but they have set it up and established it as a Law by their own Authority as is manifest by the Mandates of their Archbishops and Bishops the Decrees of their Provincial Councils and the Edicts and Arrests of their Kings and Parliaments e La Bible Deffendue au Vulgaire Part. 3. c. 1 4. Collectio Auctor Versiones Vulg. damnant It is true there is a little more latitude in France for granting a Licence for not only the Bishop and his Vicar-General but the Penitentiary or a Man 's own Parish Priest may grant it f Mandeuent de Monseigneur L' Archevesque de Paris portant defense de lire la Bible en Langue Vulgaire sans permission Fait le 2 Septembre 1650. But then to make an amends for this in other Countries the Rule is made stricter than it was at first by the Trent Fathers for that does not forbid the Vulgar Bible but only the reading it without a Licence whereas the 5th Rule of the Spanish Index prohibits the Bibles themselves in the Vulgar Tongue and all Parts of them too and that not

often divided among themselves and their Definitions plainly contradictory one to another Witness Pope Gregory I and Pope Boniface III. The former condem'd the Title of Vniversal Bishop as abominable and Antichristian z Lib. 4. Epist 32 33 36 38. the later ambitiously affected and obtain'd it from the Tyrant Phocas a Plat. in vit Bonifacii III. Sabellic Ennead 8. l. 6. Pope Innocent I. held the Eucharist was necessary for Infants b Aug. Contr. duas Epist Pelag. l. 2. c. 4. Binii Concil Tom. 1. p. 769. Pope Pius IV. denounced an Anathema against those that held it c Conc. Trid. Sess 21. Can. 4. And certainly neither do these Divisions take their Rise from the reading of the Bible by the common People 3. The Learned Romanists are divided among themselves in all those Points of Doctrine in which they are divided from Protestants I shall instance in some viz. The Popes Infallibility and Vniversal Pastorship his Power over Princes and Dominion in Temporals the Canon of Scripture and Traditions of the Church the Sacrifice of the Mass and Communion in one kind the Worship of Images and Invocation of Saints the Doctrines of Purgatory and Indulgences to which I shall add but one more viz. Transubstantiation Tho they seem pretty well agreed to burn or hang those that deny it yet there is not one question about it in which they are at an agreement among themselves To borrow the Words of a learned Bishop of the Church of Ireland No sooner says he was this fatal Sentence given he means the Definition of Transubstantiation in the Lateran Council but as if Pandora's Box had been newly set wide open whole swarms of noisom Questions and Debates did fill the Schools Then it began to be disputed by what means this Change comes whether by the Benediction of the Elements or by the repetition of those Words of Christ THIS IS MY BODY Then was the Question started what the demonstrative Pronoun HOC signifies in these Words THIS IS MY BODY Whether this thing or this Substance or this Bread or this Body or this Meat or these Accidents or that which is contain'd under these Species or this Individuum vagum or lastly which seems stranger than all the rest this nothing c. Then it began to be argued whether the Elements were annihilated Whether the Matter and Form of them being destroyed their Essence did yet remain Or the Essence being converted the Existence remain'd Then the Schoolmen began to wrangle what manner of Change this was Whether a material Change or a formal Change or a Change of the whole Substance both Matter and Form And if it were a Conversion of the whole Substance then whether it was by way of Production or by Adduction c. (d) Bp. Bramh. Answ to the Epist of M. de la Militiere This is only a short taste of what the Reader may find in the Book quoted in the Margin Nor do they only quarrel about the Manner but some of their greatest Men do not believe and others plainly deny the Article it self as any one may see who will but take the pains to consult the learned Preface to a Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points c. and a Treatise written by an Author of the Communion of the Church of Rome touching Transubstantiation It is probable that if all the Disputes upon all Points controverted among Protestants were put together they would not amount to a greater number than those of the Papists in this one Article To conclude this Let any Learned Romanist tell me what his Judgment is in any one Point controverted between them and us and I will engage upon short warning to produce another Learned Romanist who shall contradict him And are not Men so entirely united in Judgment among themselves excellently qualified to upbraid Protestants with their Divisions 4. In that he says To such Readers as St. Peter calls Vnwary and Ignorant Arianism may be as obvious in this Book as Christ's Divinity It is a sign that he expected no other than such unwary and ignorant Readers For he must be ignorant indeed in these Matters who does not know That not the Ignorant but the Learned not the Laity but the Clergy were the Persons to whom Arianism was in this Book so obvious Witness the Councils of Sirmium of Milan and Ariminum I need not tell him That one or two of the Bishops of Rome either grosly dissembled or Arianism was for a time more obvious to them in this Book than Christ's Divinity And whereas he says That when such an one viz. one that is Unwary and Ignorant undertakes the interpreting of this Book 't is a hazard whether in the end he comes out Quaker Anabaptist Presbyterian Independent Muggletonian Socinian or Atheist He had spoken nearer the Truth if he had said When such an one takes this Book as interpreted to him by a Popish Priest or Jesuit in the disguise of a Quaker Anabaptist c. We know who have been imploy'd to sow and foment Divisions among us to draw our People into separated Meetings upon the pretence of a more pure and spiritual way of Worship We can tell him of great numbers instructed in Handy-craft Trades trained up to dispute one for Presbytery another for Independency a third for Anabaptism sent over hither by order from Rome so that when the deluded People have thought they had heard a gifted Tradesman they have heard a Romish Priest in that disguise We can acquaint him with those who have been detected exercising their Talents in several sorts of Meetings But that which follows is most surprising That it is a venture whether Cruelty cutting of Throats Oppression Tyranny dethroning of Kings murder of Princes shall not with him viz. the ignorant Reader become a necessary Duty and a true serving of the Lord. This I say is most surprising and doubtless he rubb'd his forehead hard before he wrote it since he knows That all these have for some hundreds of Years been taught and practised by the greatest Men of his own Church and therefore it is not a venture but beyond all peradventure that when Place and Time serve they will be so again He well knows what the great Cardinals Bellarmine Baronius Perron c. What the Learned Jesuits Suarez Lessius Azorius c. What his own Country-men Cardinal Allen Father Parsons Creswel c. have written for the deposing and murdering of Kings He knows what Pope Gregory VII Gregory IX Innocent III Innocent IV Boniface VIII Paul III Pius V Sixtus V Gregory XIII have not only taught but acted in pursuance of these Doctrines He knows there was a Holy League among those who had not the Bible in their Banners as well as a Solemn League and Covenant among those who had And he knows or at least may soon know if he please That the chief Weapons of the Rebellion in Forty two were setch'd from Rome