Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	faith_n	word_n	3,386	5	4.6780	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03883	A treatise concerning the ground of faith. VVritten in Latin, by the reuerend Father Iames Gordon Huntley of Scotland, Doctour of Diuinity, of the Society of Iesus. And translated into English, by I.L. of the same Society. The second part of the second controuersy; Controversiarum epitomes. English. Selections	Gordon, James, 1541-1620.; Wright, William, 1563-1639.	1614 (1614)	STC 13997A; ESTC S118149	27,760	72

but often tymes leaueth and forsaketh them the which they proue out of that place of the 29. or 30. Psalme the eight verse Thou hast turned thy face from me and I became troubled For thus they affirmed in that famous disputation had at Paris Anno 1566. 5. Fiftly there wanteth that fulnesse sufficiency because no priuat man can define all poynts of fayth seeing that many were defined before he was borne against the ancient heretikes and there wil be many things defined in the Church after his death assoone as there shall arise any new heresies 6 Sixtly there wanteth necessity For before there was any priuate man which now liueth there was true fayth and the same fayth will continue after he is dead 7. Seauently there wanteth the seauenth property of the rule of fayth seing that by this priuate spirit a Christian cannot be distinguished from an Infidell But in truth all heretikes do bragge and boast that they haue this priuate spirit wheras notwithstanding one cōdemneth or rather damneth another 8. Eightly there wanteth the eight property For no point of faith can be certainly deduced out of this priuate spirit only seeing that it is oftentymes vncertayne and deceitfull 9. Ninthly there wanteth the ninth property For it is a ridiculous thing for one to endeauour to conuert an infidell to the fayth by bragging only that he hath this priuate spirit the which none can eyther see or vnderstand 10. Tenthly there wanteth the tenth and last property because there is no mention made of this priuat and particuler spirit in the Apostles Creed 11. And the true spirit of faith which is in euery faythfull soule wherof the Apostle speaketh when he sayth that we haue the spirit of fayth is not the ground or reason of fayth we heere speak of but it is the helpe of God or the supernaturall gift of fayth whereby our vnderstāding is helped to belieue and it is in regard of our vnderstanding as it were the efficiēt cause of the acts of faith But we speake in this place of the formall cause or reason of fayth as it appertayneth to the obiect of fayth which is the word of God and by which we know what is the true reuealed word of God and what is not For albeit the holy Ghost and the gift of faith moue vs to belieue yet they do not rashly moue vs without any reason or ground For he as the wise man sayth who belieueth quickely is light of hart but with a solid and sure ground according to those words of S. Iohn do not dearely beloued belieue euery spirit but proue the spirits whether they be of God But this proofe and tryall necessarily requireth some good reason and sure ground whereof we will speake in the next Chapter 12. Lastly it is to be considered that we do heere dispute of the Catholik faith as it is necessary to al to attaine their eternall saluation not of the speciall fayth of one or other ●…he which we know very well may arise or proceede from some particuler or extraordinary reuelation of God but this is not the Catholike fayth nor an ordinary but an extraordinary fayth not to be admitted generally of all till it be approued and receyued by the Church as presently we will declare more at large CHAP. V. That the Catholike Church is the ground or rule of our Faith THAT the Catholike and visible Church is the most solide and true ground of our faith is manifestly proued by the former properties of the Ground of faith For all those ten properties do very well agree to the Church and to nothing els besides The Church hath the first property to wit a continuall and neuer-interrupted duration For the Church hath alwaies continued as we haue already proued euen by the testimony of our Aduersaries 2. The Church also hath the second property that is to say a most certaine and vndoubted truth because she can neuer erre in faith as we haue proued before 3. She hath also the third property that is to say the infallible certainty on our partes because in the doctrine of the Church we may haue the greatest certainty perspicuity and euidency that possibly we can desire Seeing that the Church is alwaies present who explicateth alwaies her mynd vnto vs in plaine and manifest wordes And if at any tyme there arise any doubt or Controuersy in her decrees she presently declareth it no otherwise then if the Prophets other writers of the ould and new Testament were yet aliue and would clearly explicate their mynds vnto vs in their owne proper words For it is the same holy Ghost who in tymes past spake by the mouth of the Prophets and Apostles and who speaketh now by the mouth of the Church for it is not you that speake but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you 4. The Church hath the fourth property For there is exceeding great strēgth and immutability in the doctrine of the Church For this truly can neuer be corrupted falsified or chaunged because the Church is alwaies present who alwaies giueth most cleare and euident testimony of her owne doctrine This doctrine also of the Church remayneth alwaies constant and immoueable because the holy Ghost is alwaies present who will not permit the Church to erre according to those wordes of Christ I will aske my Father and he will giue you another Comforter that he may remayne euerlastingly with you 5. The Church hath the fifth property that is to say the fulnesse and sufficiency of doctrine For the Church teacheth all thinges necessary to saluation according to that promise of Christ When the spirit of truth shall come he will teach you all truth So that the Church hath hitherto condemned all heresies and heerafter also will condemne all errors arising and oppugning the Catholike faith In like manner she alwaies answereth to all doubtes and difficulties proposed vnto her because she is alwaies present and alwaies liueth 6. The Church hath also the sixt property that is to say necessity For no doctrine must be recevued as a point of faith vnlesse it be receyued and approued by the Church as we haue declared before by the example of S. Paul who although he receyued his Ghospell immediatly from God by the reuelation of Christ yet he was commaunded by reuelation to go to the visible Church and to conferre the Ghospell which he preached with those who were in the visible Church least perhaps in vaine he should runne or had runne 7. Yea and others could not safely belieue him vnlesse his doctrine had byn approued by the Church as Tertullian S. Hierome and S. Augustine well note The Apostle S. Paul saith S. Augustine called frō heauen if he had not found the Apostles with whome by conferring his Ghospell he might appeare to be of the same Society the Church would not at all belieue him Thus S. Augustine And much more

the groūd of our fayth that is the true ground therof because our fayth cannot well nor must not be considered but in regard of men seeing that our fayth cannot be found but in men only if therfore in regard of men the Church is the gound of truth it is also most truly and necessarily the ground of our fayth 20. Furthermore that the ancient Church of the holy Fathers did cōstantly hold the preaching and authority of the Catholike Church to be the ground of our fayth those excellent words of S. Augustine do manifestly declare when he writeth thus disputing against the Manichees I sayth he would not belieue the Ghospell but that the authority of the Catholike Church moued me therunto this sētēce of S. Augustine vexeth our Aduersaries very much Caluin goeth about to perswade the ignorāt people that S. Augustin speaketh of himselfe as yet remayning a Manichean heretike and not of himselfe as being conuerted and made a Catholike But this is a ridiculous euasion for the words which follow a litle after do shew that this is a false interpretation of Caluin If thou doest hold thy selfe to the Ghospell S. Augustine soeaketh vnto a Manichean heretike I would hold my selfe to those by whose commandment I belieued the Ghospell He speaketh therfore of himselfe as now being a Catholike and after a few words VVhose authority sayth he being infringed weakned I could not now euen belieue the Ghospel it selfe Where he sheweth plainly that our fayth doth so depend of the authority of the Church that it being weakned or taken away it could not remayne or continue by any fayth of the Gospell Wherby it is manifest that it is false which Iunius writeth that S. Augustine did only speake of the accidentary and not of the necessary cause 21. Others say that S. Augustine did speake of this or that booke of the Gospell and not of the whole Ghospell in generall But the very words of S. Augustine doe teach the contrary because he speaketh euery where of the Gospell it selfe in generall Moreouer one and the same reason is of one booke of the Ghospell and of all the rest as concerning fayth 22. Others lastly do answere that S. Augustine did not speake of the Church of his tyme but of the primitiue Church wherin were the Apostles who approued the Ghospells But this solution is also easily refuted out of the words next following to whom faith S. Augustin I haue obeied saying Belieue the Gospell why should I not obey them then saying vnto me Doe not belieue Manicheus But it is manifest that the primitiue Church spake nothing of Manicheus but that Church only which was in S. Augustines tyme sayd vnto him doe not belieue Manicheus For Manicheus liued many yeares after the primitiue Church yea euen after S. Cyprian that is to say almost three hundred yeares after Christ as the same S. Augustine testifyeth and it is otherwise sufficiently well knowen that the Manichean heresy was vnknowne in the world before the yeare 277. See Baronius in his 2. Tom. in the yeare 277. in the 2. number and others following CHAP. VI. The arguments of our Aduersaries are confuted NOvv it remayneth we answere to the arguments of our Aduersaries for by our answers the difficulty of this whole controuersy wil be more perspicuously resolued Their first argument is if the authority of the Church were the ground of fayth then it would follow that our faith relied vpon men and not vpon God for the Church consisteth of men Our Aduersaries do often repeate and inculcat this argument vnto vs. I answere that the same argument if it were any thing worth would also proue that we should not belieue Scriptures because al those who wrot the books of the Bibles were also men but as we do belieue their writinges not because they were men but because they had a certaine peculiar assi●…āce of the holy Ghost who did so gouerne and direct the that they could not erre so in like manner we belieue the Church and make it the ground of our fayth not as it consisteth of men but as it hath a speciall and continuall assistance of the holy Ghost by whome she is continually gouerned and directed wherby it commeth to passe that she can neuer erre as we haue proued a little before 2. Wherefore to make the Church the ground of our fayth is nothing els then to make the holy Ghost and Christ himselfe the ground therof For it is he who speaketh vnto vs by the mouth of the Church according to that saying of S. Paul Seeke you an experiment of him that speaketh in me Christ And in another place speaking of his own doctrine he sayth therfore he that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God who also hath giuē his holy spirit in vs. But our Aduersaries do thinke speak too basely of the Church as though it consisted of men only as the Churches of Insidells and Heretikes seeing that the chiefe part of the true Church of Christ is the holy Ghost who is as it were the soule and spirit of the Church 3. But neither is this to make the Scripture or the holy Ghost subiect inferito our men as our Aduersarise are wōr to cauil but ōly to shew that the holy Ghost is euery where conformable to himselfe that in all things he neuer differeth or disgreeth frō himselfe Whether he speake vnto vs by the holy Scripture or by the mouth of the Church as Caluin acknowledgeth disputing against the Anabaptists and Libertines who by such an argument went about to reiect the holy Scriptures to wit least the holy Ghost might be made subiect and inferiour vnto them 4. The second argument is that Christians may and ought to iudge and examine all things as the Apostle sayth therefore the spirit of euery Christian ought to be the groūd of al things I answere that by the same argumēt the Anabaptists Libertines reiected all the Scriptures that they might only retaine the spirit as witnesseth Caluin but badly for euen as Christians must discerne and iudge all things so must they also obserue the rule and method in iudging which the Scripture doth prescribe vnto them and which himselfe appointed but this rule is not euery ones priuate spirit but the spirit of the whole Church For it is altogeather necessary that the rule of fayth be most certayne free from all errors as the spirit of the whole Church is and not that of euery priuate man Hereupon sayth S. Iohn He which knoweth God heareth vs he who is not of God doth not heare vs in this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error We must therfore iudge of euery man by that they eyther heare or do not heare the Church c because they either agree or disagree frō the spirit of the Catholike Church 5. The third argument is that Catholikes proue the Church and