Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	apostle_n	scripture_n	tradition_n	4,180	5	9.2107	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09739	Ane answer made the fourth day of Septembre a thousand fyue hundreth syxtie [and] one, by maister Theodore de Besza minister of the holie Euangile, in the presence of the quene mother, the king and quene of Nauarre, the princes of the blood royall, and of the priuie counseil, vnto that whiche the cardinall of Lorraine had replied against that whiche was propounded in the first iourney of their talking together, by the said de Besza in the name of the reformed churches. Together with an other short answer made by the said de Besza the 26 day of the said moneth vnto certein articles of replie set forth by the said cardinall	Bèze, Théodore de, 1519-1605.; Baron, John.	1562 (1562)	STC 2000; ESTC S119255	24,857	90

receiued in the Churche euerywhere of all men But who may assure vs of these thre pointes Certenly no mā as I suppose For the diuersitie is infinite y t is founde in the bookes of the Ancients yea and that in the articles of the faith Furthermore if we must come vnto these wordes alwayes and of all at what tyme shall we begin except at the Apostolicall Churche And who shalbe the first in y e coūte but the Apostles of whom y e historie was faythfully written by Saint Luke that whiche may be knowen by theire owne writinges So therefore my Lordes to conclude forasmuche as all trueth cōmeth of God who haeth taken for his trushmen in that that concerneth oure saluation the Prophetes and Apostles we returne alwayes vnto this foundation of the Scriptures and yet will we receiue the aduise of coūcelles and of fathers but that shall be so farre as they cōfirme their sayinges by the euident witnessinges of the Scriptures the whiche as treulie sayeth Saint Augustine in his bookes of Christian doctrine be so tempered with the holy Spirit y t that whiche is darkly spoken in one place is moste clearelie spoken in an other place with diuers other meanes to vnderstand well the Scripture whiche be conteined in y e said bookes of Saint Augustine and of otheres whiche haue entreated of this mater And there remayneth as yet one difficultie to be resolued whiche lyeth in this that many haue thoght that the will of God touching all y t is requisit vnto oure saluation was not fully written by the Euangelistes Apostles But if this might take place I pray you my Lordes what a doore should there be opened to set forth all maner of dreames and rauinges that men list And in very dede we see that this haeth bene the passage by whiche Satā haeth entered in to waste the vine yarde of the Lorde and yet denye we not but y t before Moses tyme God gouerned his Churche by visions and reuelations and that the Apostles first planted the Churches with a liuelie voice before that their doctrine was written But where fore is it y t whiles men grew greater in malice and mo in nombre contrarie wyse their lyues growing shorter that the Lorde haeth willed that this doctrine should be enregistred in a cōmon language to be vnderstand of all Haeth this bene to encountre them that decore and deck their rauinges and dreames with y e tytle of traditions reuelations or of custome Now if this doctrine be not written but in part wherefore should this remedie serue then Surely Saint Iohn speaketh not so of the Scriptures where he sayeth that the thinges y t he haeth written be written to the end that in beleuing that Iesus is the Christe the Sonne of God ye might haue lyfe the whiche thing should be fals if there should be left out any doctrine necessarie vnto saluation Saint Paule also declarīg the vse of the Scripture where he wold teache all the ministers of the Churche of God in the personne of his faithfull disciple Timothee had not said that it maketh the man of God that is to say the ministers of the worde of God or in especiall if ye list euery faithfull man to be in all pointes perfyte if it had bene nedefull to haue added any thing that as yet was not written And yet we doubt not but alweys there might haue bene of the Apostles traditions vnwritten But what were they Perteining vnto ordre and to policie But because this name haeth bene abused a long tyme it behoueth to shew whiche be y e Apostolicall traditions the w c will not be hard to be done if two pointes be propounded whereby they may be iudged that is to say if they be cōformable to the doctrine and mete to edification for it is a thing moste assured that the Apostles neuer appointed any maner of doing that might be directly or vndirectly cōtrarie to the doctrine whiche they taught nor also that myght turne away men how litle soeuer it be frōe the spirituall seruice seing all their writinges beare witnes thereof When therefore this ruell shalbe kept then shall it be easie to discerne the doctrine frome the tradicions and the fals tradicions from y e right traditions And to this may be added that that whiche the Apostles them selues haue done in this behalf is not alweys perpetuall Not but that they are witnes w tout reproche but for this cause that according to the reule of charitie did they beare some thing with the infirmitie of the Iewes and so muste be iudged of that whiche they ordeyned of thinges strangled to eat no blood And of that whiche S. Paule haeth taught and practised in Timothee and on his personne the w c thinges now might haue no place except in following y e generall reule to cōmodate oure selues to oure neighboures in thinges indifferent suche thinges may also be gathered of other maner of doīges whiche they haue appropried vnto their tymes as where it is spoken of kissing to haue their head vncouered or bare in signe of authoritie the whiche at this day be contrarie maner of doinges or fashions amongest many nations amōgest whome it should be founde very strange y t men should kisse one an other or that one man should kysse an other mans wyfe as also at this tyme to speake beare headed is a signe of inferrior or low condition All these thinges therefore oght to be considered before y t we should grounde a doctrine as Apostolicall for to abuse the authoritie or custom of y e Apostles to trooble the Churches with lyke as we see that it haeth come to passe shortly after the tyme of the Apostles for the feast of Easter specially in their tyme touching them whiche abused the authoritie of the Churche of Ierusalem for to mingle the Iudaisme with the Christianisme accordīg as it is written in the historie of the Actes of the Apostles There was it ordeyned that no mans cōscience should he charged with any yoke How thē may we esteme that y e Apostles haue inuented so many and so many ceremōes vnto whiche afterwardes haeth bene attributed bothe remission of sinnes and merites seing y t they haue made suche an expresse protestation to the contrarie yea wolde not giue place vnto the Mosaicall ceremonies of whiche God him self was author It is a long tyme since that Saint Augustīe cōplayned hereof when he wrote to Ianuarius but there is no doubte if he had bene in the lyke tyme as ours is he wold haue bene more astonied at them In a somme therefor we do require that the Scripture whiche is cleare in this behalf may discerne betuixt the traditions that be good thē y t be euill betuixt them that be holie and them that be profaine betuixt them that be profitable and them that be noysome and betuixt them that be nedefull

y e worde And for this cause in so many places is it named food nooriture according to that whiche y e Lorde haeth said y t his shepe will heare his voyce not the voyce of a stranger I adde the Sacramentes for asmuche as the Lorde haeth not willed vs not onely to be taught by oure eares but also by oure eyes and other senses of oure bodyes therefore haeth he willed that the Sacramentes shoulde be sure visible witnesses and sealles of the vnion or knitting together of his children first with him self and then after amongest them selues Ye may see now why it was said in the olde lawe y t the vncyrcumcised shoulde be destroyed from among the people of God And for this cause also it behoued that all the heades of euery familly shoulde compere thre tymes a yere at least in Ierusalem for to witnesse by the same sacrifices their vnitie of faith and religion And afterwardes when the wall betwene the two was broken the Gentiles and the Israelites were broght into one bodye not onely by the preaching but also by Baptisme and by the holy Sacrament of the body blood of oure Lorde according to that whiche Iesus Christe said vnto his Apostles Go and teache all nations baptising them in the Name of the Father the Sonne and of the holy Spirit whereunto we must ioyn that whiche Saint Paule sayeth that he hath giuen touching the Supper y t whiche he had receyued of the Lorde This is also that whiche in an other place he sayeth that the Churche is founded vpon the foundation of the Prophetes Apostles that is to say vpon Iesus Christe whiche is the substance of the doctrine of the Prophetes Apostles Lykewyse must we vnderstād an other place of the same Apostle wherein he sayeth y t the Churche is the prop piller of the veritie that is to say that y e worde of God whiche is the veritie as it is written in S. Iohn susteyneth vpholdeth the Churche or els is placed in the Churche as in a sure hie place forasmuche as ī it God sheweth his puissance vnto saluation to all beleuers as S. Paule declareth vnto the Romains in the first chaptre Beholde therefore the right and visible marckes of the Churche whiche is called for this cause the mother of the faithfull begotten noorished in the same with the true and incorruptible foode Now if there be preaching of y e worde and administration of the Sacramentes it must of force be concluded that there be pastors and doctors vnto whome this charge must be cōmitted according to that whiche the Scripture thereof witnesseth euery where namelie in y t w c is writtē vnto the Corinthiēs to y e Ephesiens Therefore may ye se why y e some putt to y e thirde marcke that is to say y e ordinarie succession from y e tyme of the Apostles wherevnto we answer y t suche a succession is greatly to be praised prouided alwayes that it be well considered applied as some haue often tymes therewith strengthened them selues against the newnes of heretikes as appereth in Tertullian Irenee S. Augustine against the Manicheens and Donatistes But forasmuche as there is a buckler hereof made against vs as if we were inuenters of new thinges or that we pretended thereby to haue help it is more then nedefull that it should be knowen what estimation we haue of this succession we say that there is a succession of doctrine and a succession of persons As touching the succession of doctrin we auowe it as an infallible marcke of the true Churche according to y e whiche we haue already spoken For notwithstanding that the doctrine af the Euangile is more then credible without hauing authoritie of ancientie that it commeth often to passe through oure iniquities and by the iust vengeance of God that it is as new vnto men as that it oght to be vnto them familiare and accustumed yet this notwithstanding the witnes of an ancient and continuall succession serueth much vnto men to make them the more inexcusable And as touching the succession of persones we auowe it also but vnder condition and prouided that it be conioyned with the succession of the doctrine of the Prophetes and Apostles at the least in the pointes of the substance and grounde thereof and none otherwyse And marck if it please you my Lordes that I speake notablie of y e doctrine and not of maners for althogh it be requesit for a good and true pastor to be perfyte in doctrine and in lyuing yet because of ignorance or for some diuersitie of opinions of the doctrine whiche be not of the substance ground thereof also for his manners we will not stik to suffer him being a pastor to be still a pastor prouided alwayes y t he kepe the foundation of the doctrine we be taught thus to speake by the wordes of oure Lord Iesus Christe y t whiche saied forasmuche as y e Scribes and Pharisies were set in Moisis chair y t it behoued to doo as they taught and not that whiche they did The whiche place S. Augustine writing on S. Iohn in his 46 treatise declareth that it oght to be vnderstand of hyrelingis whiche faill not to haue this doctrine not of fals Prophetes of whom Christe haeth contrarywyse spoken Be ye ware of the leuain of the Pharisies Being saith S. Augustine set in y e Chair of Moises they teache the law of God and therefore God teacheth by them But if they wil teache their owne doctrines nether heare ye them nor do ye those thinges that they speake The whiche thing y e same authoure expoundeth yet more at large in his 49 Sermon De verbis domini So therefore my Lordes to retourne again to the point because tha● the fals Prophetes may succede vnto the trow and w●●es vnto the ryght shepherdes behold a 〈◊〉 peremptorie for the w c we esteme a personall succession nor onely to be receiued but altogether to be cōdemned as giuing occassion ●nto falset except that the succession of the doctrine be ioyned thereunto for the foundation Furthermore if this personall succession were simply holden for an infallible marcke of the Churche it behoued then to shew vs some promise of God by w c he haeth 〈◊〉 and bound his grace vnto certen seates or regions y t whiche thing we suppose can not be found in the new Testament But ryght well know we that there is alwayes a Catholicke Churche that is an vniuersall Churche ●orasmuche as the particuler membres thereof be scattered here there throughout the hole worlde according as it pleaseth God to exercise his iudgementes vpon some of them that he haeth ether altogether cut of or els that he haeth chastened for a tyme and his mercies vpon other some of them y t he

interteyneth from good to better or that he calleth of new vnto his knowledge For in some pointes the Lorde vsing his iust vengeance he semeth altogether to root vp till y t he leaue not one trase of y e Churche as it is come to pas in y e contrie of the Barbariens in the orient And in other cuntries he haeth left as yet some trace of y e Churche as we see in the Churches of Grecia and yet more nerer vnto vs. On the other part the Lorde betwene handes some tyme● out of this personall succession of pa●●tours as it chanced in Antioche i● the tyme of Samosatenus and in Alexandrie the tyme of the banishe●ment of Athanasius in many othe● Churches in the tyme that heresyes had there furious rage specially without seking thinges any furde● at this tyme there haeth bene interruption in the personalle succession of the Romishe seat at least in y e tyme that Honorius the first held the seat aboute the yere syx hundreth thre twentie was condemned for the execrable heresie of Eut●ches aboute the yere syx hundreth foure score And in the tyme of Pope Iohn the twentie and two was condemned for an heretike aboute the yere a thousand thre hundreth thirtie two Except they wold say that notable heretiques were the heades of the Churche besides this w c happened in the tyme of the she pope Iohā aboute the yere eight hundreth fiftie and foure and during so many schismes of contrary popes as be redde in histories By these reasons I conclude y t with out stayeng at any personall succession for to know the Churche well we must alweyes come to the purite of the doctrine and to the sincere administration of the Sacramentes In suche sort that they whiche oght to be compted the ryght successors of the Apostles the whiche being lawfully called build vpon their foūdatiō whether there be a ●ontinuall succession of persons or that that succession some tymes be interrupted yea euen of them y e first preached the Euangile in any place Lyke as contrarywyse they that preache not at all or that in stead of the doctrine of the Apostles preache their owne doctrine althogh they alledge a thousand predecessors following one an other they oght not to be hearde as pastors but to be fled from as wolues by the expres cōmandement of Iesus Christe and of his Apostles But some may say is this said because y t it is lefull to euery body to preache the Euangile and to minister the Sacramentes No surely for it behoueth y t euery thing be done by good ordre in the house of God as the Apostle sayeth Who be then the right pastors They whiche be lawfully called There resteth then to knowe what is lawfull vocation and to vnderstand this point we say that there is a maner of ordinarie vocation an other extraordinarie That is the ordinarie vocatiō in the whiche the ordre is kept that God haeth established in the Churche And in this ordre first of all there is examination of the doctrine of the lyfe then after there is lawfull election finaly there is imposition of hādes These may ye see in many places of the Scripture to be put and conioyned together as in the election of Saint Matthias and of the vij deacons in the Actes of the Apostles and also in that whiche is written in S. Paules Epistles vnto Timothee and to Tite This now is the ordanarie vocation whereby it may be easely cōsidered what is the extraordinarie vocation in the whiche notwithstanding y t one of these two thinges or two of them yea or all the three be wanting yet is it laufull by the authoritie of God That oure Lorde haeth often tymes vsed suche extraordinarie vocations it appereth through out the Scriptures For who laied hādes vpon Moses that he might consecrate Aaron And who anointed in the degre of a Prophete Isaie Daniel Amos and many others And whē came that to passe Then as they that had the ordre in their handes abused the same then say I it behoued that God should extraordinarely put hand to his work not for to bring cōfusion into his house but to correct them whiche vnder the shaddowe of ordinarie successiō had had ouerturned and peruerted all And that it is so I referre me to the writinges of the Prophetes w c specially speake against the priestes But if herein it be replied y t suche persons neuertheles haue had miraculously frome heauē an outward witnessing of their calling I answer that this is very trew in some but not in all except that ye will deuine that to be whiche in no wyse is euident by any witnes yea I can not well tell if there be many of the trew Prophetes of the rase of Aaron who haue hadde the imposition or laying on of handes after the ordinarie maner But if they will alledge that the fore said Prophetes were content to rebuke and to reproue without hauīg any thing to do with the sacrifices First of all I answer that that is not true euery where for Samuell w c was not of the rase of Aaron but onely of Chore did sacrifice ī Mispa as it is written in the first booke of Samuell in the vij chaptre And Elie the Galaadite did sacrifice in Carmell as it is written in the first booke of kinges y e eightene chaptre Secondly it is no meruell if the Prophetes ī that tyme stretched not oute their comissiōn extraordinarie so farre as to circumcise sacrifice seing that this charge was appointed heretably vnto the rase of Leuy the whiche thing at this day haeth no place Consider now my Lordes what we call the Churche and what we esteme of the marckes of it of the vocatiō of pastors of whiche things if ye will make applicatiō vnto oure Churches or vnto oure selues we hope with the help of God to shew so good tokens that none shall haue iust occasion to doubte thereof following the worde of God and that whiche thereof is truely written as we think in a treatise that is found amōgest y e workes of S. Augustine intituled a dialogue of 66 questions in the last question Now let vs come to speake of the authoritie of y e Churche It appereth by these thinges that we haue afore spoken that we do not derogate in any point the preciouse and hye titles the whiche the holy Goste attributeth vnto it But we say that it is so the body of oure Lorde that in a part it is in their pilgrimage awaiting for the full enioyeng of their head it is the house of God but that whiche is yet a buylding and groweth day by day and that it is gouerned by the Spirit of God but as yet fighting against the fleshe it is purified but in suche sorte as to be broght by litle and litle vnto this perfection of