Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	apostle_n	church_n	creed_n	1,331	5	10.2664	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53985	The true mark of the beast, or, The present degeneracy of the Church of Rome from the faith once delivered to the saints a sermon on November 5, 1681 / by Edward Pelling ...	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1682 (1682)	Wing P1106; ESTC R1620	19,445	35

the Faith which all the Apostles preach'd which all Christian Churches receiv'd and for which the Roman Church is here commended was made up of those principal Doctrines which at this day we find in our Creed To these were it necessary to add the Testimonies Tert de veland Virgin de prascrip Atkanas in initio fine Symbol of Church-writers I might instance in Tertullian Athanasius and divers more who speaking of the Creed own'd it to have been the One only immoveable and sufficient Rule which all Christians went by the Catholick Faith and the Faith of all Churches in the world which whosoever believed was a right Catholick and sound Believer But to avoid prolixity I shall only take notice of what we meet with in Irenaeus who lived in the Iren. adv Haer. lib. 1. c. 2 3. 4. very next age to the Apostles for rehearsing the Articles of the Creed he tells us that That was the Faith which the whole Church over the whole world had received from the Apostles and their Disciples that every Church held taught and kept with all diligence and care and that the Churches in Germany in Spain in France in the Eastern parts of Egypt in Africk and in the mid-land parts of the world which takes in Rome too did in His dayes believe no other Doctrines than what were contained in the Apostles Creed and that the Universal Church was One because the Faith of every Church in the world was one and the same and that none either taught more or believed less than that One Faith did amount unto Alas in those dayes the Creed of all Christians was a plain easie and short one for they thought themselves obliged to this only to believe the Essentials of Christianity and to lead good lives and it had been well for Christendom had after-ages taken no other care but by multiplying Articles some have multiplyed Errors too and as Seneca observed of the old World that while men lived upon a Simple and Natural sort of Diet they were very healthful and strong but multos morbos multa fercula fecerunt when they came to be Nice and Luxurious and would have variety of costly Dishes served up at their Tables many diseases followed so it is observable in this Case as long as Christians contented themselves with a Simple Religion and a plain short Creed so long the Faith continued in a good state but when they came to be wanton and would needs have this and that Point set out according to their Gusto Religion became Sickly and men Unsound and by abusing their Learning they were the less Virtuous and the less Orthodox but yet the more Techy and Imperious 2. But to come to our next Point I know the Church of Rome will by no means hear of this that She has play'd any Tricks with the Ancient Faith either by Adding to it or by Taking from it or by Embasing it with any Novel Mixtures nor indeed that it was Possible for Her to do it considering that Singular Prerogative of an Un-erring Judgement which she pretendeth to have above all Churches beside But this is a most vain and ridiculous conceit for because she was faithful once it will no more follow that she hath been so ever since then it will follow that because the Husbandman soweth Wheat in his Field it shall bring forth no Tares or that because a Child is Innocent upon his Baptism he shall never grow up to be a Man of Sin or that because a Virgin is yet unspotted she will never turn Whore or that because a man is yet in Health he shall never be crazy or that because a Town is yet free from the Plague it shall never be visited with it or that we shall not be mortal because our Climate is Temperate our Air good our Physicians skilful and our Food at present is wholsome A long Tract of Time produceth many and great Alterations for one Generation passeth away and another comes and many times we see that the Posterities of men are not half so good as their Predecessors were and that Religion which was sprightly and visible in One Age may be almost Lost in another Anciently the Faith of the Church of Rome was Right and her Bishops were Wise and Holy men but because she had this Honour in the Primitive times was it impossible for her ever to lose it Was it Impossible either for the Sheep in the fold to catch the Bane or for the Shepherds to fall asleep or for Wolves to creep in unawares or be encouraged and invited to come in at Noon-day Why look ye now This is as great a piece of Non-sence as if you should believe that because the City of London is now well stockt with a Knowing and Honest Clergy it may not be as ill stockt with a pack of Illiterate and ill men should Times alter and our Laws and Government be subverted 'T is true Christ promised his Church That the Gates of Hell should not prevail against her But this promise belongs not to any One particular National Church but to the Church in General 'T is true also that Christ said Lo I am with you alwayes even to the end of the world but 't was spoken to All the Apostles and to all their Successors for ever 'T is true likewise that Christ prayed That Peter 's Faith should not fail but this was a Personal respect to Peter himself but no security for those that came after him and we may well wonder how it should come into the head of any Papist to dream from that Text that because Peter himself did not utterly forsake the Faith ergo it was impossible for Marcellinus to become an Idolator or for Eleutherius to turn Montanist or for Liberius to fall off to the Arians or for Honorius to be a Monothelite or for Anastasius to turn Nestorian or for Pope John the 23d of that name to teach That there is no Future state of Happiness nor any Resurrection of the dead And yet we have proved it upon them that these things were done and taught and that the Faith of these and other Bishops of Rome hath actually failed either in whole or in a very great part When St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome gave her this warning Be not high minded but fear Rom. 11. 20. and when he besought them to mark such as caused divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which they had learned Rom. 16. 17. either the Church of Rome was then in danger of being tainted with Scandalous Principles and of Apostatizing from the Truth and of Falling from the favour of God or else the Apostle was an Impertinent man and ill adviz'd to give them such Needless admonitions and to tell them of danger when there was none 3. But not to argue any longer at this rate If it be made appear that the Primitive Faith of the Church of Rome is Actually corrupted and

and Wine is not abolisht in the Sacrament for ' tisfrom that Principle that received and common Principle that he argues against those deceivers So that if We are Hereticks for denying the doctrine of Transubstantiation Pope Gelasius himself was an Heretick also for Teaching that which is the Faith of all Protestants But indeed neither was he nor are we to be blamed for it was the Faith not of Pope Gelasius alone but of all the Primitive Catholicks 10. Should I now tell you that the same Gelasius condemned the administration Comperimus autem quod quidam sumpta tantummodo corporis sacri portione à Calice Sacri cruoris abstineani Qui proculdubio quoniam nescio quâ superstitione docentur obstringi aut Integra Sacramenta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur quia divisio unus ejusdemque mysterii sine Grandi Sacrilegio non potest provenire Papa Gelas. in Gratiani Decret de Consecrat distinct 2. c. 12. of the Sacrament in one kind only as contrary to the usage of the Church of Rome it self in his time that Leo the first condemned all Adoration of any Creature that St. Gregory disclaimed the worshiping of Images and Pictures and overthrew the Doctrine of Purgatory and so go on searching into the times of old and making such other Collections as 't is no very hard matter to Leo ser 2. in Nativit make I should soon return more than a Full Jury of the Primitive Bishops of Rome and those good Greg or Ep. ad Seren. men and true in comparison to try and clear this grand point that the Errors of the modern Romanists Et in 7 Job l. 8. c. 8. which we have rejected are such as are not to be reconciled with the Primitive Faith of the very Roman Church which was the third thing I undertook to show 4. But we will forbear to walk further among the Monuments of the dead Instead of that we will in the next place take a short view of the vanity of their Pretences who charge us with Noveltie Heresie and Schisme for imbracing and sticking to that Reformation which by the wonderful good Providence of God hath been wrought in many parts of the Christian world and more especially here in this Realm Had we broached any Doctrines which are really New we had been guilty of Innovation Had we violated the integrity of the Apostles Creed we had been guilty of Heresie or had we bid defiance to the Communion of the Catholick and Apostolick Church we had been guilty of Schism and our condition would be sad But the old Sages of the Church and our own Consciences do bear us witness that in every of these respects we are not only Innocent but Righteous for our Faith beareth the same date with Christianity and we have forsaken the Church of Rome in no material point but where she hath for saken the Ancient Church and indeed her own Primitive self And how are we to blame if we have done this tho it be against her humour Is it not very hard that the Governours of a Family shall not be permitted to cleanse their own house from filth and cobwebs because the next Neighbour will chuse to let his habitation ly like a Dunghill or is it not unreasonable that one Church must not be allowed to be a cleanly Matron because another is resolved to be a dirty Slut why thus stands the case between us and our Imperious and Unconscionable Neighbours Our Bishops as to their just Authority stand upon the same Level with the Bishops of Rome and so do all the Bishops in the world beside And this is according to the 34th Apostolick Canon Now if he will not suffer a Beesome to come near his door the fault is not ours and much good may his stye do him so he do but ly in it quietly but neither ought it to be an offence to him if our Prelates have taken the first and fairest opportunity they could take to sweep our Church and set it to rights as all the Churches of God were of old They commonly ask us where our Faith was before Luther and we say 't was in the Creed which our Ancestors before Luther's time believed as well as we do Now and as far as they believed that so far they were Christians and Catholicks and so far we allow our Adversaries to be Christians and Catholicks too For this is the necessary and common Faith of all Christians But before the Reformation many Errors did bear this Faith company and made the Table fowl wherein the Creed was written and when we took it down to cleanse it we only brusht off the dust from it so that still our Faith was and is the same though our Errors in other matters are thrown out of doors They ask us where our Church was before King Hen. the 8th and we tell 'em 't was here in England where it is still But before King Henry's time 't was abused and fill'd with superstition and Legends and a great deal of Trumpery and unlawfull Stuff which either the ignorance or the knavery and secular designes of some Priests hadfoisted in and which we hope God in mercy did pardon to our fore-fathers who did not know the unlawfullness of those Wares And when in King Henry's dayes a Reformation was begun and after was compleated we did not pull down the Church over our heads but only flung out of it such things as had been amiss in it so that our Church is the same still only then it was Nasty and now it is Neat We neither destroyed the old fabrick nor built a New one but we cleansed that which was and purged the Sanctuary from its Pollutions letting the Pillars and the Walls the Creed the Commandements and the Pater Noster and what else was necessary or fitting for God's Worship to stand still as they did and indeed better Now if this was a Crime truly it might have been laid to our Saviour's own charge when he went about to Reform those abuses and innovations which had crept into the Jewish Church by the Artifice of the Pharisees as these did into our Church by the help of the Priests Did he not tell them that from the beginning it was not so and did he not thereby direct them to Primitive practice as the Rule of Reformation and would it have been a good plea against him should the Jews have said Thus we have formerly believed and done from the days of yore therefore to teach otherwise is to be guilty of Novelty and Schism and to set up another Church or would it have been a sufficient plea against his Disciples those great Reformers of the world should the Pharisees have demanded of them where was your Church before Christ is it not a Mushrome of yesterday and had not the answer been easie that they had brought Religion to that purity which God anciently intended why this is our case that we have Restor'd