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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	apostle_n	church_n	scripture_n	2,161	5	5.9273	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30771	The several ways of resolving faith in the Roman and Reformed Churches with the authors impartial thoughts upon each of them, and his own opinion at length shewn, wherein the rule of faith doth consist ...	Banckes, Matthew.	1677 (1677)	Wing B632; ESTC R20075	29,922	220

THE SEVERAL WAYS Of Resolving FAITH IN THE ROMAN and REFORMED CHURCHES With the Authors impartial thoughts upon each of them And his own Opinion at length shewn wherein the Rule of Faith doth consist Which clears upon rational Grounds the Church of England from criminal Schism and laies the Cause of the separation upon the Roman YORK Printed by Stephen Bulkley and are to be sold by Richard Lambart Book-seller in the Minster-yard 1677. THE PUBLISHER To the Pious and Intelligent READER IF Reader thou be indeed so qualified as the style I give thee imports the following Treatise will I am confident find a very gratefull acceptance with thee For as the Subject of it's Discourse is of highest Consequence and so esteem'd by all who have a greater value for the Truth of Christianity then for the Concern of secular Interests and Enjoyments so will the handling of it be with that impartiality sincerity and seriousness seen perform'd that thou'lt easily own it to be a Tract wholly design'd for conviction and satisfaction not at all for contention or ostentation This 't is true makes it appear in a plain and homely dress the Author having purposely declin'd Rhetoricall Ornaments as fitter for an eloquent insinuating Harangue then for a controversiall strict Discourse whose aime and intent should not be to please the Phansie with gay and empty appearences but to fix the Understanding with plain and solid Truths Whereunto how far this small Piece in what it treats of is conducible I shall wholly leave to thy own impartiall thoughts to judge Permit me yet which with modesty enough I may crave to use the freedome to tell thee that the Way the Author takes for effecting his desire which is to be confirm'd upon sure Grounds What the Means instituted by God for attaining to the certain knowledge of Christs Doctrin be is such that nothing but very calumny can accuse him of any sinister or partiall proceeding This although a Motive materiall for recommending the perusall of his Book especially considering how polemick Disputes are too frequently mannag'd yet was my apprehension of the soundness of the Discourse it self and of the great assistance it brings to the rationall defence of the truly Protestant Profession but not of whatsoever is so call'd by every Opinionist the principall Inducement that mov'd me with my friends permission to publish it I speak not this Courteous Reader to forestall in the least thy Judgement but remit thee to thy full liberty and the rather because to do otherwise were to offer violence to the nature of the Treatise it selfe whose entire complexion in the whole and every part thereof is ingenuous and free looking on whatsoever is within it's prospect with the most equall eye imaginable and yet passing over nothing of moment without a due inspection of it as by an indifferent view thereof thou wilt easily perceive Farewell The Contents SEction 1. There is a Rule of Christian Faith or a Way whereby to come to the certain knowledge of Christs Doctrine instituted by God Three different Opinions among the Learned of the Roman Religion where that Way is to be found or wherein the Rule of Faith as 't is called by Controvertists doth consist Sect. 2. The Ground of the first Opinion of the Romanists which places the Rule of Faith in the Definition of a General Council confirmed by the Pope being this That a General Council confirm'd by the Pope cannot erre in Matters of Religion seriously consider'd of and thought to be erroneous Sect. 3. The Reason of the second Opinion among the Romish Party namely That the Definition of a General Council conciliarly proceeding with or without the Pope is the Rule of Faith held to be That a General Council conciliarly acting is infallible in Catholick Points of Faith taken into consideration and it 's double meaning explain'd the truth of which in one of them only is here brought to the Test the certainty of it in it's other sense being left to be examin'd in it's due place afterward Sect. 4. The Foundation whereon we find the third Opinion of the Romanists to wit that Oral Tradition or the living Voice of the Present Church in every Age is the Rule of Faith to be built viz. That Tradition is in Articles of Faith perpetually the same in all Ages well div'd into and more largely because of the present great vogue it has with the learned of the Romish Profession here in England insisted on then the Grounds of both the two former Opinions are Sect. 5. The Controvertists of the Reformed Church make Scripture the Rule of Faith Two main different Opinions notwithstanding in what sense it is so held to be The former Assertion viz. That the Scripture is clear to every understanding illuminated by the Holy Ghost in all those things which are necessary to salvation throughly inspected and esteem'd to be more plausible then sound A Sect that holds private inspiration of the Spirit of God absolutely necessary as well for knowing as understanding the Word of God Another sort of People who talk of a Light within them to be their sole Guide in Matters of Belief and Practise Both these Pretensions fairly discuss'd and found to be Delusions Sect. 6. The other Assertion which some of the Reformed hold viz. That all things necessary to Salvation are clear in Scripture to every understanding impartially reflected on and Reasons given why 't is thought to be rather popular and pleasing then solid and satisfactory Sect. 7. Whether the Rule of Faith affords infallible or but moral certitude of Christs Doctrin Whether we may not now in our days have as great certainty thereof as the Disciples of the Apostles had And whether the like certainty which they had be not enough for the Church of the present and future Ages Sect. 8. By what Means the knowledge of a Matter of Fact such as the preaching of the Gospel by Christ and His Apostles was may be perpetuated An examen of the force of the Romanists main Argument whereby they endeavour to shew that Scripture cannot be the Rule of Faith Whether the Scripture be not as intelligent in Points of Faith as Tradition or the Living voice of the Church is Sect. 9. What the Properties of the Rule of Faith be and whether they agree to Holy Scripture Sect. 10. An Enquiry Whether Christs Doctrine has been practically convey'd without intermission from the days of the Apostles unto ours And of what validity four grand Arguments urg'd against the indefectibility of Tradition are Sect. 11. What rational assurance we have That Scripture is not corrupted in Necessaries to Salvation The way to know what Things have been ever Orally taught Two Reasons given why Tradition though it be of an indefectible Nature should not be the Rule of Faith Whether a Fundamental Error can ever obtain a setled quiet possession in the visible Church An offer from Reason for the impossibility of the thing Errors

with that which others of them name confirming whilst both place the suppos'd infallibility in the Popes assent which assent those who call it defining think perhaps they make the Proposition more obviously denote that Prelats infallibility as exclusive of all the rest thereby SECT III. The second Opinion amongst the Romanists viz. That a General Council conciliary proceeding is infallible in Matters of Faith taken into consideration and it 's double meaning explain'd the truth of which in one of them only is here brought to the Test the certainty of it in it's other sense being left to be examin'd in other Sections THis Assertion of the Second sort of Romish Controvertists that A General Council conciliarly proceeding cannot erre in Points of Faith may be taken in a two-fold sense either as the words conciliarly proceeding include Tradition which the Traditionists say and then the meaning of it is That A General Council defining according to Tradition or the living voice of the Church cannot erre in which sense the consideration of it belongs to some following Sections Or els as they are intended only to denote the exclusion of all fraudulent and forcible ways us'd to procure the votes of the Prelats so as that the Definition of the Council being left to it's own freedom will be infallibly true although the Means preparative to it were not at all so Against That whatsoever was deliver'd to the primitive Christians by Christ and his Apostles as a Point of Faith hath been perpetually handed down from time to time without interruption till our days as such and it 's assign'd proof the indefectibility of Tradition I shall say nothing here but remit the discourse I intend upon them to another place and at present enquire Whether the present Church of Rome does indeed depend on this Maxim for the certainty of the purity of her Faith That Christs Doctrine was deliver'd to her as descending without interruption from Christ and his Apostles For if it appear upon trial made she doth not then however indefectible Tradition be it may notwithstanding fall out that new Articles of Faith may be introduc'd into the Church upon some other Ground not firm and safe such as the Traditionists will I know grant That the Definition of a General Council not founded on Oral Tradition but on this Presumption That the Bishops effectually proceeding to define are immediatly inspir'd from Heaven is And that the Roman Church does not rely on the mentioned Maxim for the certainty of the purity and uncorruptedness of her Faith I have somthing which seems considerable and of moment to alledge in proof It will not I presume be deny'd That Cardinal Bellarmin and the learned Romish Controvertists more generally taken notice of after him ever since the Reformation till Rushworths Dialogues came to light for all that they made it their business to resolve Faith according to the belief and practice of their Church did not conclude and averr Tradition to be the alone safe Means of conveying Christs Doctrine to the knowledge of succeeding Ages And if such great Lights among the Roman Clergy mistook the Rule of Faith how can we reasonably think that the inferiour Pastors and Laics in their time knew it aright And if they knew it not neither could they rely on it as such For although it were granted which some say that Bellarmin himself and all the learned Clerks of the Roman Church no less then the other Clergy and Lay-men did practically rely on Tradition in as much as they were Orally taught their Religion by the preceding Generation and that again by the next before it and so still backwards one Age of another ever since the very first beginning of Christianity yet unless they also knowingly did it when once they came to make enquiry upon what stedfast Ground the Christian Faith was to be embrac'd they would no longer rest upon the instruction they had when they first in their younger years believ'd if so be upon search made they conceiv'd as it seems the chiefest of them besides many more if not the generality did that the certainty of Faith was not sounded on Oral Tradition their first Instructor in it but on something els Yea I think I shall not mistake the truth if I say that it was not the private opinion of some great Doctors and their followers only but the sense of the Council of Trent it self also That Faith is not resolv'd into Tradition as it 's adequate Rule whilst in consulting the first Decree of the fourth Session of that Council I find two Passages which seem to make it out The former of them is this Sacrosancta Oecumenica Generalis Tridentina Synodus c. perspiciens hanc nempe Christianam veritatem Disciplinam contineri in Libris scriptis sine Scripto Traditionibus quae ex ipsius Christi ore ab Apostolis acceptae aut ab ipsis Apostolis Spiritu Sancto dictante quasi per manus traditae ad nos usque pervenerunt Orthodoxorum Patrum exempla secuta omnes Libros tam veteris quám novi Testamenti cùm utriusque Deus sit Author necnon Traditiones ipsas tum ad Fidem tum ad Mores pertinentes tanquam vel ore tenus a Christo vel à Spiritu Sancto dictatas continuâ successione in Ecclesia Catholica conservatas pari pietatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipit ac veneratur The latter Passage closeth up the Decree thus Si quis Libros ipsos integros Scripturae scilicet cum omnibus suis partibus prout in Ecclesia Catholica legi consueverunt in veteri vulgata Latina Editione habentur pro Sacris Canonicis non susceperit Traditiones praedictas sciens prudens contempserit anathema sit Omnes itaque intelligant quo ordine via ipsa Synodus post jactum Fidei Fundamentum sit progressura quibus potissimùm Testimoniis ac Praesidiis in confirmandis Dogmatibus instaurandis in Ecclesia Moribus sit usura In both these Passages Scripture and Apostolical Traditions are plainly contradistinguish'd as equally relating some way or other to Christian Faith and Manners And although in the former place they seem to be principally oppos'd as the Written and unwritten Word of God yet not without this apparent intimation also that as the Books or written Words call'd Scripture leade to the sense or Doctrine contain'd in them so likewise the unwritten words wherein Apostolical Traditions are taught guide to the meaning couch'd in them so that as Scripture and Traditions taken in the former sense are held by the Council to be equally the Word of God so are they moreover in the latter sense held to be equally significative and expressive of the Doctrine of Salvation delivered by them But in the latter rehearsed place of the Decree Scripture and Traditions are chiefly to be understood of written and unwritten words directing to the knowledge of the Objects of Faith as appears