Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	article_n	church_n	creed_n	2,425	5	10.1630	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53946	The antiquity of the Protestant religion with an answer to Mr. Sclater's reasons, and the collections made by the author of the pamphlet entitled Nubes Testium : in a letter to a person of quality : the first part.	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1687 (1687)	Wing P1072; ESTC R1036	27,540	74

one Will neither Now what was the business of all these zealous Fathers but to confirm the Apostles Creed which had been handed down to them from the beginning They look't upon it to contain all things necessary to be believed they reckoned it the saving and the Only short Rule of Faith the Faith that is Immovable as Ignatius the Martyr call'd it the unmovable and Irreformable Faith as Tertullian the Perfect Faith that unites all Ignat. Ep. ad Smyr Tertul. de veland verg Iren. l. 1. c. 3. Churches throughout the whole World into one body as Irenaeus thought the Right Catholick Faith as Athanasius and the rest of the Ancients did esteem it This was the reason why they were so very industrious and careful to keep Super haec autem iidem in Chalcedone sancti Patres anathematizaverunt eos qui aliud Symbolum tradiderunt aut tradunt praeter hoc quod expositum est a trecentis decem octo sanctis Patribus explanatum a centum quinquaginta sanctis Patribus Justinian in Quintae Synodi Collat. prima Concil Tom. 4. part 2. pag. 47. Edit Bin. the common Creed inviolable So that as Justinain the Emperor tells us the Fathers of the Council at Chalcedon anathematiz'd all those that had delivered or do deliver any other Symbol besides that Creed of the Apostles which was explained by the two first general Councils that at Nice of 318 Fathers and the next at Constantinople consisting of an hundred and fifty I know not what the Men of Trent thought of this heavy Anathema when they Added to the Ancient Creed a great many New Articles of their own as equally Necessary to Salvation But by this Sir you may see that the Apostles Symbol as it was explicated in the first General Councils was that and that only which the Primitive Fathers so zealously contended to maintain which you cannot conceive why it should have been had not they concluded it to be a Perfect Summary And this I note not only to shew their great and most unreasonable uncharitableness who condemn all that stick to this Primitive Creed only But moreover to vindicate our selves who own and teach the very same Articles of Faith and necessary principles of Christianity which was the only thing contended for by the old Catholick Fathers Upon which account we are no more Hereticks than They were our Creed being the very same with Theirs So that there can be no colour of Reason for any to forsake our Communion as if our Faith were unsound or Defective or to be dissatisfied in their minds as if there were any danger of their Happiness if they be but careful to adorn this Faith with a sutable conversation And hence I cannot but look upon it as a strange piece of weakness at least in the Divines of that party that they are so grosly mistaken in their notion of of the Catholick Faith. For they quite over-look the Common Creed as if that were not it whereas in Truth that alone is the Catholick Faith and give that Title to the Trent-confession which is the Roman Faith only and yet whoever denieth any part of that Confession though he owns the Apostles Symbol must be hooted at presently as an Heretick Nor can it be thought any less than strange Inconsideration in Mr. Sclater that he should leave our Church for that of Rome upon an Idea he hath formed in his own fancy of that Churches Vnity in the Faith. For is not our Church in most perfect Vnity as to the Christian Faith Were the Apostles Creed profest only in the Roman Church we might all go thither But is not our Faith the same with Hers in those points wherein 't is truly Primitive and Catholick If Mr. Sclater can shew us wherein we contradict any of those principles of Christianity which so many Ancient councils confirm'd as the One Catholick Faith we will not blame him for thinking that we have broken the Unity thereof But we are so far from offering an hundred Faiths as he unworthily Page 5. insinuates that we teach but One and the same which is Common to all the Churches in the World. Therefore his little quotations out of Ignatius Cyprian and the supposititious Clemens Romanus are nothing at all to his purpose But his Allegation out of Irenaeus pag. 8 is grosly impertinent For Irenaeus evidently speaks of the Apostles Creed and of that alone Pray consult the place and see if Irenaeus doth not expresly and distinctly repeat the substance of that Confession the Articles whereof we repeat daily in our Churches and then he presently subjoyns in the very next Chapter This Doctrine and Faith the Church keeps with all care as if she dwelt in one House although she be disseminated over the whole World. Her Faith is agreeable to these Doctrines as if she had one Soul and one and the same Heart These Articles she doth consonantly preach teach and deliver as if she had but one mouth For though there be different Languages yet the Faith delivered is one and the same Neither do the Churches in Germany believe or teach any other Faith nor do those Churches in Spain nor those in France nor those in the East nor those in Egypt nor those in Lybia nor those in the middle parts of the World But as the Sun is one the same in the whole World so the Doctrine of Truth every where shines and enlightens all men that are willing to come to the knowledge of the Truth He adds too which Mr. Sclater disingenuously conceals that none of the Governours of the Church though never such able men do teach any other Doctrines than these for no man is above his Master nor doth the weakest diminish the Faith delivered But the Creed being one and the same the greatest man doth not add more no doth the meanest man believe less And now Sir what is all this for the advantage of the present Roman Faith which is superadded to the Apostles Symbol This passage is so far from countenancing that it utterly condemns that Addition Or what is all this against Vs who believe teach that very same Faith which all Christian Churches did adhere to in Irenaeus time Or what encouragement is all this for any man to leave our Communion as if we had violated the Vnity of the Faith The truth is Irenaeus the rest of the Ancients said as we do that Christ hath but one Catholick Church on Earth that all Churches make up this Catholick Church that they are all united in one by one common Faith and that the Apostles Creed is that one and only Faith. Now this Faith is uniformly believed by us and therefore Mr. Sclater needed not to say as he doth pag. 10. What would I have once given to have found such Vnity among Protestants Let him but give us our Due and we desire no more and this he cannot deny without denying us our due that in England Scotland

Julius it is evident by the whole story and honestly confest by Petrus de Marca that De Concord Lib. 7. C. 3. 7. their Restitution was decreed by the Sardican Council and was actually procured and effected by the Emperors command 'T is true Pope Julius receiv'd those Bishops into his Communion because he believ'd they were unjustly depos'd by the Arian Faction 'T is true too that he wrote into the East for the restitution of those Bishops but 't is as true that he pretended not to any power of doing this himself but that those great men ought not to be ejected without the knowledge and consent of himself and other Bishops of the East and West This Petrus de Marca proves undeniably and Ibid. Cap. 4. quarrels with Baronius Bellarmine and Perron for wresting the sense of Julius his Epistle to their own Opinion just as our Author hath done And as touching Sozomen's words which our Author quotes that Learned Writer shews in the same place how they are abused and that they are to be understood not as if the restitution of those Bishops was effected directly or by vertue of Julius his supream Jurisdiction but by Consequence onely that is Julius his Example and Intercession had such an Influence upon other Bishops and the Emperors that it become the means and occasion of the Restitution of Athanasius and his injured Brethren And now what is all this to prove the sole supream Authority of the Bishop of Rome Especially since Athanasius himself acknowledg'd that he was restored by the suffrage of no less than Three hundred forty and four Bishops Sir if you think I have been too prolix upon this Theme I must intreat you to consider that it is one of the most Principal of those points which are in Controversie between Us and the present Roman Church and a point of great consequence I hope that by what has been Written you will be able rightly to understand those passages which the Author of the Nubes Testium hath collected upon this Head and before I pass on to the the next point I shall take notice but of Four passages more 1. He saith the General Council of Chalcedon own'd the supream Authority of the Pag. 44. Pope inasmuch as the chief accusation against Dioscorus was that contrary to the Tradition and Practice of the Church he had presumed to call a Council without the consent of the Bishop of Rome as appears from the words of Lucentius Legate from the See Apostolick Act. 1. But this he falsisies wretchedly For the Crimes alledged against Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria were that he was a Favourer of the Heretick Eutyches and was guilty of Outrages and bloodshed This made the great Outcry in the Council that he should be turned out of it Indeed Lucentius the Popes Legate pleaded that Dioscorus had called a Synod without the Popes Authority But this allegation was not admitted nor taken notice of by the Council they required Lucentius to shew wherein Dioscorus had offended And when Lucentius persisted in his allegation the Fathers reprehended him for accusing him and so Dioscorus was commanded to keep his place which he did till he was cast out for other reasons If you consult the first action of the Chalcedon-Council you will find what I say to be True and by that you may judge whether they lookt upon Lucentius his allegation to have been any Crime in Dioscorus as this Author would make you believe 2. He tells us that the Monks of Syria called Hormisda the Pope the Head of all And can we believe that those men who were then persecuted by the Eutychians neglected by the Emperor would apply themselves to Hormisda without complementing him with an Honourable Title Yet that Title imports no more but that he was one of the principal Bishops of the Catholick Church and such Titles were usually given to any very Eminent Bishope specially if he was a Patriarch For so St. Basil himself said of Athanasius the Patriarch Basil Ep. 52. of Alexandria that he had the care of all the Churches and that he thought it most convenient for them to fly to him as the Head of them all and to make use of him as their Counsellor as their Captain and Prince in the government of their affairs What a noise should we have about our ears had St. Basil said so much of the Patriarch of Rome And yet St. Basil did not mean that Athanasius was the supream Vniversal Pastor 3. He saith that the first Council at Constantinople desir'd their Decrees to be confirm'd by Pope Damasus especially as to the deposing of Timotheus an Apollinarist But this doth not appear for all that the Council required of him was that he being absent from the Council would concur with them in the condemnation of the Heretick Now this was no argument of Damasus his Supremacy For all Bishops were bound to do the same thing all of them were ingaged against an Heretick as in a common Cause and as against a common Enemy Thus Novatian was excommunicated by several Synods in Rome Italy and Africa nay by all the Bishops over the World as Petrus de Marca doth confess out of St. Cyprian And the reason given is this because all the De Concord Lib. 7. C. 2. Bishops were but one body an Order of men that were Vnited together so that if an Heretical Bishop arose in any Province all the Bishops were presently to lend their help and assistance against him And besides it is notorious that by the Canons of the Catholick Church no Bishop was to receive any man into his Communion that had been justly Excommunicated by another So that when the Council of Constantinople requir'd Damasus for that is the word to concur with them against Timotheus they onely requir'd him to observe the Laws and Practice of the whole Catholick Church It was no token of his Jurisdiction over them but of his fraternal Communion and Vnity with them 4. Last of all our Author produces the definition of the Florentine Council that the Holy Apostolick See and Bishop of Rome has the Primacy over the whole World c. But surely a man that entitles his book A Collection of the Primitive Fathers should have left out this Council which was not Three hundred years ago far from a Council of Primitive men And as for those Fathers if they must be called so every one knows that there were not Thirty Greek Bishops among them nor were the Latines any other than such as were packt and shuffled together to play the Popes Game for him Nor was the Popes Primacy debated at all among the Legates No the great business was about the manner of the Procession of the Holy Ghost And when some of the Greeks were perswaded at last to subscribe to that Article the poor Greek Emperor being wearied out by delayes subscribed the Doctrines of Purgatory of the Popes Primacy c. himself not so much as imparting the matter to the Greek Legates This was the fine Council of Fathers whose definition our Author reckons among the rest though perhaps with a design to make up that by Tale which was wanting in Weight I say no more of that Council because you may see enough to invalidate the Authority of it by that account which our Learned Dr. Stilling-fleet has given out of Sguropulus in his defence of the Greek Church But having said thus much concerning this Contro-sie I shall the next time endeavour to satisfie you in that point concerning Images and Image-worship about which the next great Controversie was in the Ancient Church FINIS