Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n
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A51484
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A peaceable method for the re-uniting Protestants and Catholicks in matters of faith principally in the subject of the Holy Eucharist : proceeding upon principles agreed-on and waving points in dispute : upon occasion of the late conceit concerning the perpetuity of faith touching that great mystery / written in French by Lewis Mainbourg.
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Maimbourg, Louis, 1610-1686.; T. W.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing M293; ESTC R26797
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72,644
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198
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explication oâ their Doctrine so fully as it was afterwards thought fitting to do and thâ they did not judge it necessary to descend to all those particulars which were examined and looked into in afteâ Ages It was possible also that the would not deduce all those particular sequels which were inclosed or shut up as it were in those Principles which they established as our Blessed Saviour himself had formerly dealt with theâ It is also very likely that men oâ of neglect not preserving those Truth in memory as they ought to have done they came insensibly to âe forgotten or that whilest mens wits were wholly taken up in defending some part oâ them against Hereticks who opposed them there was not so much heed taken of those others which never came into Controversy However it be this iâ indubitably certain that a time there was when many things were not clearly and distinctly known nor at such time obligatory as to exercise of faith which the Church has since placed in the number of such things as are belonging to Faith For although all those things were comprehended in Holy Scripture and in the Doctrine of the Apostles and that there alwayes were the same marks to know them by yet they were not alwayes taken notice of with the same reflexion or application But now by occasion of Disputes which have been raised at certain times the Church having set her self to examine them legally and according to form and making reflexions upon Holy Scripture and looking back upon the neighbouring times of the Apostles making up by such means unto the Fountain-head of true Apostolical Tradition she has declared them to be of faith as being exactly conformable to the Rule of Belief 6. I do not say therefore what some haply of our Adversaries who are not so well acquainted with our Tenets may reproach me with that the Church has Authority to frame new Articles of Faith No I do acknowledge together with them that she cannot act but according to Rule which is the holy Scripture and Tradition truely and purely Apostolical from which also we have received the holy Scripture it self She holds forth nothing new but she proposes unto us Antiquity which we knew not before She does not give new birth to Scars which never were before but she makes them appear in that Instre which formerly they had done by removing those clouds which did obscure them She has no new revelations she onely publishes those antient ones of which we had no formeâ assurance Finally she settles no other Principles but such as she receiveâ from our Saviour himself out of which by force of her light and certain necessary sequels she makes those Veritieâ appear which were hidden and as ãâã were Quid est Depositum Id est quod tibi creditum est non à te inventum quod acceptisti non quod excogitasti ãâã rem non ingenii sed doctrinae non usurpationiâ privatae publicae traditionis rem ad te perductam non a te prolatam in quae âon author debes esse sed custos non instituâor sed sectator non ducens sed sequens Comment 1. c. 27. shut up in those Principles This is that which Vincentius Lirineâ sis expresses most admirably applying unto the Church those words of S. Paâ to his Disciple Timothy Depositum câstodi keep well the Depositum which ãâã put into your hands What is the meaning of this Depositum saith he speaking of matters of Faith It is that which you are intrusted with and by no means that which your self have invented It is that which you have received and in no wise that which your self have found out it is not the result of your own Wit or understanding but it is what you learn from that Doctrine which has been taught you It is not any thing which you have established in the World by your own private Authority it is a Point of Tradition which you have been trusted with for the publick good It is a Treasure of which there was no Mine in your own Land You are not the Author âut the conserver of this Doctrine You are not here the Guide but he that follows the Guide What Guide The Word of God which is this Guide and the true Rule of Holy Church Vald. l. 2. Doct. fid c. 22. Can. l. 2. de Com. 7. à castro de Luâ go valentia alii Videte quid dicat qui fuerunt non qui sunt ut exceptis Apostolis quodcunque aliud postèa dicetur abscindatur Hier. in Ps 86. All our Divines agree in this Doctrine which they have taken from the Holy Fathers For St. Hierome has it in exâess terms upon the 86. Psalm where he Psalmist sayes that Our Lord will delare in Scriptures of People and of Prinoes and of those that have been in her He makes use sayes St. Hierome of a word signifying time past fuerunt that have been because we are to hold nothing for a Point of Faith in the Church but what we find in the Prophers and in the Apostles who are the Princes of the Church And upon this ground it is that St. Irenaeus and after him S. Augustine saith That the faith of our Ancestors and ours makes but one and the same Faith because we believe nothing at this day which was not contained in the whole Body of their Faith The Church therefore never did make Iren. l. 3. c. 2 lib. 4. c. 13 Aug. Ep. 51 and undoubtedly never will make any new Articles of Faith since it is not in her power to define any thing but according to the Word of God which she is alwayes to consult with as with her Oracle and the Rule she is bound to follow But there is no question also but upon occasion of Differences from time to time in mens judgements and opinions she has often declared for and defined some Points which were antecedently by some questioned and that without offence or at least were not known before unless in general and by a confused kind of knowledge There is nothing more certain nor more common in the History of the Church and Councils where you shall frequently see defined and proposed as a Point or Principle of Faith that which before Conteââs did arise and before that violent clashing which has been in almost every Age of the Church about some Point or other in Controversy which was neither defined nor so much as thought of For example concerning the authentickness of some Canonical Books concerning the validity of Baptisme conferred by Hereticks concerning one or two Wills and operations in our Blessed Saviour concerning the Procession of the Holy Ghost and many such like All which are now no more to be called in question although before the definition of the Church it might have been done without offence For if it be true that it belongs unto her to propose that as matter of Faith which was not before