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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	new_a	scripture_n	testament_n	8,305	5	8.0705	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79473	Chillingworthi novissima. Or, The sicknesse, heresy, death and buriall of William Chillingworth. (In his own phrase) Clerk of Oxford, and in the conceit of his fellow souldiers, the Queens arch-engineer, and grand-intelligencer. Set forth in a letter to his eminent and learned friends, a relation of his apprehension at Arundell, a discovery of his errours in a briefe catechism, and a shorr [sic] oration at the buriall of his hereticall book. By Francis Cheynell, late fellow of Merton Colledge. Published by authority.	Cheynell, Francis, 1608-1665.	1644 (1644)	Wing C3810; Thomason E36_7; ESTC R13256	46,148	66

Reason in the chaire in stead of Antichrist is dead and gone publish it not in the streets of Askelon that he who did at once batter Rome and undermine England the Reforming Church of England that he might prevent a Reformation is dead lest if you publish it you puzzle all the Conclave and put them to consider whether they should mourne or triumph If any man enquire whether he hath a Tombe-stone as well as an Elegy let him know that we plundered an old Friar of his Tombe-stone and there is roome enough for an Epitaph if they please to send one from Oxford if not give us leave to say we have provided a Sepulchre and it is your fault if you doe not provide a Monument for as Laurentius Valla the master of Elegances observes a Monument is nothing else but a speaking Sepulchre Vixque Monumentum dixerim nisi literae aut alii tituli appareant quae si desint magis sepulchrum quàm monumentum erit Laur. Vall. Elegant lib. 4. cap. 75. If there be any man yet unsatisfied that this great Philosopher Mathematician Oratour and any thing but what he pretended to be a Divine hath had no more honour at his death then a plaine Tombe-stone and such a song of lamentation as was taken up for Saul let him read this following Catechisme and if he be either Papist or Protestant he will be satisfied if he be true to his owne principles A Prophane Catechisme collected out of Mr Chillingworths Works Question HOw shall I be able to prove to an Atheist that there is a God and that the Books of the Old and New Testament are the word of God Answ. When Protestants affirme against Papists that Scripture is a perfect rule of Faith their meaning is not that by Scripture all things Absolutely may be proved which are to be beléeved for it can never bée proved by Scripture to a gain sayer that there is a God or that the Book called Scripture is the word of God for as he saith a little before nothing is proved true by being said or written in a Book but only by Tradition which is a Thing credible of it selfe chap. 1. p. 55. Sect. 8. the first Edition approved at Oxford Doubtlesse the Atheists and Papists will give him hearty thanks for this answer which doth preferre Tradition which the Atheist vilifies before Scripture which the Papists vilifie he hath pleased them both The Papists will bee well pleased to see this doctrine licensed by the Protestants of the University of Oxford that Tradition is more credible then Scripture for Tradition is credible for it selfe but the Scripture when it is to be proved a perfect Rule to us is credible only by Tradition in Mr Chillingworths conceit pag. 96. and where shall we meet with this universall Tradition 2. But I finde another answer pag. 53. Tradition may be helped out by naturall Reason Controversies wherein the Scripture it selfe is the subject of the question cannot be determined saith Mr Chillingworth but by Naturall Reason the only principle beside Scripture which is common to Christians cap. 2. sect. 3. And in his marginall observations on a passage of Mr Hookers he layes downe this as a Rule Naturall Reason then built on principles common to all men is the last Resolution pag. 65. Nay Reason is in some sort Gods word see his answer to the Preface pag. 21. How then will the Atheist say is Reason credible for it selfe since Mr Chillingworth saith that Gods word is not credible for it selfe Surely these answers will never bring a man to divine faith for to rely upon Tradition is but to rely upon Humane testimony and such as the testimony is such is the faith if the testimony which is the ground of faith be humane then the faith cannot be divine Againe naturall Reason is not infallible nor is it able to judge of truths which are above Reason now it is cleare that supernaturall truths are above naturall Reason Finally faith is not grounded upon Reason but upon Authority He gives a third answer chap. 1. pag. 36. God hath confirmed the doctrine of the Scripture by miracles but then he saith we have nothing to assure us of the truth of those miracles but Tradition and therefore we are not got one steppe nearer faith or Heaven by that shift and if he flie back to Reason then consider what he saith pag. 117. God hath no where commanded men to beleeve all that Reason induceth them to beleeve Qu. But if this great point must be tried by Reason what Reason can you produce to prove the Scripture to be the word of God An. There is as good reason for it as there is to beléeve other stories or matters of Tradition He requires men to yeeld just such a kinde or degree of assent to the Gospel of Christ as they yeeld to other stories or matters of Tradition chap. 1. pag. 37. for God desires us only to beleeve the conclusion as much as the premises deserve ib. sect. 8. p. 36. And the Chronicle of England joyned with the generall tradition of our acquaintance deserves as much credit in Mr Chillingworths conceit as the Gospel of Christ for his words are these chap. 2. sect. 159. p. 116. 117. Wee have I beleeve as great reason to beleeve there was such a man as Henry the eighth King of England as the Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate The Lord rebuke that spirit of errour which moved the great men of Oxford to license this blasphemy What have I no more reason to beleeve the three persons in the holy Trinity speaking in their glorious Gospel to my heart and conscience then I have to beleeve Stowes Chronicle or the generall tradition of my owne acquaintance or some such other fallible testimony Qu. But what if I cannot be assured that any part of the Scripture is the word of God may I be saved without beleeving this weighty point An. Yes saith Mr. Chillingworth chap. 2. sect. 159. if a man should beléeve Christian Religion wholly and entirely and live according to it such a man though he should not know or not beléeve the Scripture to be a Rule of faith no nor to be the word of God my opinion is he may be saved Excellent Divinity indeed what is not this a principle of Christianity that Scripture is the word of God and rule of faith and if it be how then is it possible for a man to beleeve the Christian Religion wholly and entirely and yet not beleeve this principle Yes I may beléeve the Scripture as I doe Augustins works pag. 114. Qu. But if I am assured that some Scripture is the word of God how shall I know what books are Canonicall and what not An. By universall Tradition I must receive those books for Canonicall of whose Authority there was never any doubt or question in the Church pag. 148. I may then it seems doubt of the Epistle of James the second of Peter

immediately saved without faith in Christ See chap 3. Sect. 13. pag. 133. but you see he doth not mince the matter in the place fore-cited for it is cleare and evident that there is nothing of the Gospel written in the heart by nature or in any of the workes of God by the first creation The third opinion which prevailed was this that it would be fittest to permit the men of his owne perswasion out of meere humanity to bury their dead out of our sight and to bury him in the cloysters amongst the old Shavelings Monkes and Priests of whom he had so good an opinion all his life The Prelaticall men doe conceive that there is a kinde of holinesse in a cloyster no excommunicated person must be buried there unlesse there be an absolution sent either before the death of the party or to the dead corps which they must call their beloved brother because they themselves are as lothsome and rotten as the corps Nay a Papist must not be buried in the Cloysters without speciall dispensation from the Bishop and you know the Prelates would dispense with Papists alive or dead It is usuall to bury men of good rank and quality in Collegiate Cloysters and sure I am the Cavaliers doe not bury their dead so honourably though they esteeme them the Queenes Martyrs they throw them into ditches or rivers Finally Mr Chillingworths bones shall rest without any disturbance he shall not be used as Wicliffe was by Papists or as Bucer was served by the Prelaticall faction at Cambridge who vouchsafed him an Honourable buriall in the dayes of Edward the sixth anno 1551. because they knew it would be an acceptable service in the eyes of Saint Edward as judicious Hooker styles him but in the dayes of Queen Mary the first of that name the same men plucked him out of his grave againe after an inhumane and barbarous manner but in Queen Elizabeths dayes the same men wheeled about a third time and made an honourable commemoration of him againe in Panegyricall Orations and flattering verses Mr Chillingworth was buried by day and therefore we had no Torches or Candles at his grave Tertullian assures me that the Christians used no such custome though the Heathens did and the Antichristians now doe Non frangimus lucernis lucem Dei I know no reason why Candles were used by Heathens at the Funerall of the dead but because they did burne the dead bodies subjectam more parentum Aversae tenuêre facem Observe that I say at the Funerall for I know full well that they had some Anniversary Commemorations at which it was usuall to bring Candles and burne them at Sepulchers in honour of the Dead I remember a famous instance in Suetonius in the life of Augustus there is mention made of a great company who flocked together at the Tomb-stone of one Masgabas who had beene dead about a yeare and they brought abundance of lights thither as their custome was But it is strongly objected that my great and unanswerable fault was that I did in extremo actu deficere I refused to bury him my selfe and left it to others Sirs I confesse it and shall deale freely and candidly in the businesse First Mr Chillingworth in his life time desired to have some part of the Common-prayer-book read over his Corps at the grave in case it should please God to take him away into another world by that sicknesse Now I could not yeeld to this request of his for many reasons which I need not specifie yet I shall say enough to give satisfaction to reasonable and modest men I conceive it absurd and sinfull to use the same forme of words at the buriall of all manner of persons namely to insinuate that they are all elected that they doe all rest in Christ that we have sure and certaine hope of their salvation c. these and the like passages I durst not make use of upon that occasion and all this and a great deale more was desired by Mr Chillingworth blame me not if I did choose rather to satisfie my owne conscience then his desire for what learned Doctor Vsher saith of more Ancient Formes of praise and prayer is true of these passages which kinde of Intercessions c. proved an occasion of confirming men in divers errours especially when they began once to be applied not only to the good but to evill livers also unto whom by the first institution they never were intended Dr Vsher his Answer to the Jesuites Challenge pag. 192. Edit. London 1625. Secondly I doe not know to what end and purpose wee should pray over the dead unlesse we conceive it fitting to pray for the dead I doe consider upon what slight occasions the people have heretofore runne into intolerable errours and there is a kinde of naturall superstition ingraffed in the minde of ingenuous men in this great businesse men are apt to slide out of their civility and blinde devotion into detestable superstition They who began to complement with the dead at first did little dream that their Complements should be urged as Arguments to prove that we may make prayers to the dead and yet they who have searched farthest into the originall of that rotten superstition and grosse idolatry doe as clearly demonstrate my observation to be solid and rationall as if it were a truth written with a Sun-beame Take Doctor Fields observation upon this Argument Notwithstanding saith he it is most certaine that many particular men extended the meaning of these Prayers further c. and so it is true saith Doctor Field that Calvin saith That many of the Fathers were led into errour in this matter of prayer for the dead c. See his third Booke of the Church and the 17 Chapter They conceived that the Saints continue their love to their brethren which they left behind them that therefore they recommend to God those particular necessities of their brethren which were made knowne to them here nay they did entreat Saints lying on their death-beds not to forget their friends on earth when they were translated to heaven Adde to this their reckoning up the names of Martyrs at the Eucharist the Sacrifice of praise the anniversary commemorations and Panegyricall Orations on the severall dayes of their friends death and I need say no more Read the same Author Doctor Field in the same Book the 20 chapter and you will be satisfied When I read of Funeralls in the old Testament celebrated in the presence of Idolaters mingled with the faithfull servants of God is there any probability that there were any Prayers made over the dead corps would the Idolaters have joined with the faithfull in any spirituall exercise of Religion presented to the true God The Heathens had strange conceits that by Prayers and Sacrifices Persephone might be appeased and so the deceased party fare much the better for the sacrifices or the prayers shadowed by the Sacrifices for