Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	catholic_a	church_n	true_a	17,747	5	5.6225	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13839	A synopsis or compendium of the fathers, or of the most famous and ancient doctors of the Church, as also of the schoolmen Wherein is clearely shewed how much is to be attributed to them, in what severall times they lived, with what caution they are to be read, and which were their perfections, which their errors. A treatise most necessary, and profitable to young divines, and delightfull to all such whose studies in humanity take from them the leisure, though not the desire of reading the fathers; whose curiosity this briefe surveigh of antiquity will in part satisfie. Written in Latin by that reverend and renowned divine, Daniel Tossanus, chiefe Professor of Divinity in the University of Heidelberge, and faithfully Englished by A.S. Gent.; Synopsis de patribus. English	Tossanus, Daniel, 1541-1602.; Stafford, Anthony.	1635 (1635)	STC 24145; ESTC S118496	31,571	108

the Fathers or other men were injustice and contumely against the holy Ghost himselfe especially since our Faith doth not consist in wisedome or in the words of men but in the power of God or in the evident proofes of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 2. 8. Wherefore Saint Austine writeth thus against the Donausts lib. 2. cap. 3. Quis nescit sanctam Scripturam Canonicam tam veteris quam novi Testamenti omnibus posterioribus Episcoporum literis ita praeponi ut de illa omnino dubitari et disceptari non possit Episcoporum autem literis quae post confirmatum Canonem vel scriptae sunt vel scribuntur a doctioribus libere reprehendi et particularia Concilia a plenariis et haec quoque a posterioribus emendari Who knoweth not the holy Scripture Canonicall as well of the old as New Testament so farre to excell all the writings of the later Bishops as that there needs no doubt or dispute thereof and that the workes of Bishops which have beene or are now written after the confirmed Canon may bee freely reprehended by the more learned and that particular Councels may be amended by Generall and these also by the Successive 9. Moreover Whereas many complaine of the obscurity of the Scriptures wee ought to make no scruple thereof there being greater obscurity lesse purity and certainety in the writings of men as plainly manifest the almost infinite Commentaries upon Peter Lombard and not a few animadversions of the Sorbonists upon him Cum it a sit temperata Scripturae obscuritas they be the words of Saint Austine lib. 3. de Doct. Christ ut facile quis se possit expedire modo cum similibus et apertioribus locis Scripturae locum obscuriorem conferamus et imprimis oculos a scopo non dem●veamus et quod in uno idiomate non intelligimus ex alio cognoscere studeamus Whereas the obscurity of the Scriptures is so temper'd that wee may easily explaine it if we conferre the obscure place with places more open and perspicuous especially if wee move not our eyes from the scope and what wee understand not in one tongue wee study to know by another 10. Lastly the Fathers have often erred as also the Schoolemen as the Papists themselves confesse but that the Scriptures are voyd of all error no Christian doubteth 11. It is enquired therefore whether there bee any need of reading the Fathers and ancient Doctors and if it bee needfull how much wee ought attribute to them 12. To read the Fathers profitably no man forbiddeth but it is not necessary to reade them all neither are they promiscuously to bee read by all persons neither to the same proper end that wee read the Scriptures 13. They are not presently to bee accounted the writings of the Fathers that are fathered on them As for example Some things passe under the name of one Dionissius Areopagita others under that of Origen whereof part were forged by idle Monks part were falsly attributed to those Fathers as also many Legends of Saints Neither hath every man such light and knowledge of the Scriptures as may enable him to judge of the Fathers whom wee reade not as Foundations of our Faith 14. Civitas Dei saith Austin lib. 19. de Civit Dei c. 18. dubitatîonem Academicoram tanquam Dementiam detestatur credit Scripturis sanctis veteribus et novis quas Canonicas appellamus unde fides ipsa concepta est qua justus vivit per quam sine dubitatione ambulamus The City of God detests all the doubts of the Academicks as meere madnesse She beleeves the sacred Scriptures both old and new which are called Canonicall from whence Faith it selfe is derived wherby the Just shall live by which wee walke with full assurance 15. Wherefore Christ and the Apostles when they taught did not cite the Rabins nor any Father before them but Moses and the Prophets nor was it in vaine decreed in the third Councell of Cartharge that nothing should be read in the Church but the Canonicall Scriptures 16. But the Fathers are read and are often cited in the Schooles partly that wee may see the consent of the ancient Church concerning the principall Heads of Doctrine after they were first constituted by the sacred Scriptures and partly that we may know the History of the Church and discerne her inclination who as witnesseth Eusebeus lib. 3. Hist cap. 29. after the Apostles times remained not long a Virgin nor long retained her faith incorrupted partly also that wee may accommodate to our use the many pious admonitions and consolations savouring of the very spirit of Martyrdome together with the many elegant similitudes comparisons as somewhere saith Erasmus 17. And wee reade so that wee may try all as admonisheth Saint Hierom in epist ad Minerium Meum est prepositum Antiquos legere probare singula retinere quae bona sunt et a fide verae Ecclesiae Catholicae non recedere It is my purpose to reade the Aneients to prove every particular to retaine that which is good and not to fall from the Faith of the true Catholike Church 18. The same in a manner writes Saint Austine to Bishop Fortunatianus Neque enim inquit quorumlibet Disputationes quamvis Catholicorum et laudatorum hominum velut Scripturas Canonicas habeee debemus ut nobis non liceat salva honorificentia quae illis debetur hominibus aliquid in eorum Scriptis reprobare atquerespuere si forte inveniamus quod aliter senserint quam veritas habet Talis ego sum in Scriptis aliorum tales volo esse inttllectores meorum Neither saith he ought wee to have the Disputations of any in the same esteeme with the Canonicall Scriptures although they bee men truly Catholike and praise-worthy nor to lose the freedome paying the reverence due to them of censuring their writings if wee finde any thing in them not consonant to Truth Such am I in the workes of others such would I have the understanders of mine 19. Wherefore the madnesse of them is great who without choyce would simply admit all the sayings of the Fathers which often contradict each other and as often digresse from the Truth 20. Lapsus est a fide et crimen maximae Superbiae saith Saint Basil in oration de confession fidei velle a Scripturis recedere veleas solas cum agitur de side molle admittere Christus enim ait suas oves suam vocem audire non alterius It is a falling from the faith and a crime of the highest Arrogancy to forsake the Scriptures or when Faith is our Theme not to receive them onely For Christ saith His Sheepe heare his voyce not anothers 21. Wherefore Saint Austine when Cyprians authority was urged against him concerning Baptisme of Heretickes answered that hee held not the Epistles of Saint Cyprian for Canonicall and when Saint Hierome had cited three or foure Fathers touching the reprehension of Saint Peter by Saint Paul hee replyed that hee also

himselfe confesseth lib. de captivitate Babylonic This was the Scholasticall Divinity full of sharpe and subtle questions contentions and contradictions While some made it a question whether or no the Virgin Mary were conceived in Originall sin the maintainers of which Tenent were the Dominicans the Opposers the other Monkes Others demanded whether or no the Pope were simply a man or in part a god and whether hee were above a Councell or no. Of which times Peucerus rightly admonisheth us in Chronic. speaking of the times of Frederic 2. and Charles 4. Duplex inquit genus hominum exortum est quo Sathan papatum fulcivit Canonistarum qui collectis variis decretis et Canonibus tyrannidem pontificiam stabiliverunt et novum forum constituerunt et Scholasticorum quorum Theologia ex male detortis Scripturae et patrum Sententiis i●sque confusis tum Platonicis et Aristotelicis disputationibus et Pontificum placitis consuta sacra Biblia et praecipua doctrinae de vera Dei invocatione de vero usu Sacramentorum de fide justificatione veris cultibus atque etiam patrum vetustiorum Scripta de cordibus et manibus hominum excussit Two sorts of men saith hee then arose by which Satan supported the Papacy First the Canonists who by a collection of various decrees and Canons strengthened the Pontificall Tyranny and erected a new Court The Schoolemen next who by composing their Divinity out of ill-wrested sentences out of the Scriptures and the Fathers and those confus'd with Platonicall and Aristo ellicall Disputations and Ordinances of the Popes have forc'd the holy Bible out of mens hearts and hands together with the chiefe heads of Doctrine touching the true Invocation of God and the true use of the Sacraments Faith Justification true Worships and not onely these but the writings also of the most ancient Fathers Yet did God stirre up some in severall Ages who abhorred those subtilties and betooke themselves to his Law and Testimonies although as those times were palpably darke and obscure they could not free themselves from Errors and Superstition One of these was Nicholas de Lyra 1320. who wrote upon the old and new Testament and on the third to the Galatians Hee affirmes Faith alone to justifie Another was Iohn Witcliffe an Englishman anno 1364. who discover'd many errors and superstitions of the Papacy whose Doctrine afterwards Iohn Husse embraced and Hierome of Prage who were both burned in the Councell of Constance But at length by the Divine Providence it came to passe anno 1577. that the sincere and incorrupt Doctrine of the Gospell and the whole method of Teaching was instituted and reformed by those great men Luther Philip Melancthon Zwinglius Bucerus Oecolampadius Calvin and others so that it is most true which Cyprian writes lib. 1. epist 4. In plerisque Famulis suis dignatur Deus ostendere ●edintegrationem Ecclesiae et post longas pluvias serenitatem God vouchsafeth saith hee in most of his servants to shew the redintegration of his Church and after much ●aine serenity Laus et Gloria sacrae Trinitati FJNJS Polycarpus Ignatius Irenaeus Sayings of his not iustifiable Iustinus Martyr What is lesse approveable in Iustinus Martyr The Alexandrian School Clemens Alexandrinus Harsh saying of his Origen The errors of Origen The five books of Moses Tertullian His blemishes Curiosities of speech Cyprianus His blemishes Gregorius Neocaesariensis Arnobius Lactantius His staines Athanasius The works of Athanasius 〈◊〉 Defects Memorable sayings of his Eusebius His blemishes Hilarius His blemishes S. Ambrose His writings * The workes of the six days His defects Basilius Gregorius Nazianzenus Saint Basil The worth ● sayings of S. Basil His blemishes ●ieronymus His errours Theodoretus Chrysostomus Theophilactus The errors of S. Chrysostome S. Augustinus The workes of S. Austin His errors Cyrillus Vigilius Primasius Prosper Helychius Fulgentius Leo 1. Greg. 1. The dotage of S. Gregory Damascenus Bernhardus Isidorus Beda Haimo Rabanus Lanfrancus Albertus Magnus Peter Lombard * Impotency Iohannes Scotus Another Scotus Capreoius Gerson Biel Petrus de Alliaco Whence Luther derives his opinion of the Lords Supper Nicholas de Lyra. I●h●nnes Witcliffe Iohn Husse Hierome of Prage