Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nation_n	let_v	lord_n	praise_v	2,458	5	9.7983	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33770	Theophilus and Philodoxus, or, Several conferences between two friends the one a true son of the Church of England, the other faln off to the Church of Rome, concerning 1. praier in an unknown tongue, 2. the half communion, 3. the worshipping of images, 4. the invocation of saints / by Gilbert Coles.	Coles, Gilbert, 1617-1676.	1674 (1674)	Wing C5085; ESTC R27900	233,018	224

understanding and devotion putting an acceptable force upon the Almighty by the fervency and importunity of the whole Congregation I have likewise occasionally shew'd before how the Latine Tongue was propagated with the Roman Conquests by their Colonies and in time became even vulgarly known in many parts of the Western Empire but upon the Inundation of the Goths and Vandals c. And upon the decay of the Roman Empire the Roman Tongue every where gave place to the Conqueror and now there is no Nation or People in the World who generally understand it Now then seeing the Latine Service was in use in divers Countries because it was vulgarly understood and for that reason only as we may well suppose the case being so apparently alter'd and no common People now understanding the Latine Tongue it ought in every Country to give place to that Language which is understood And it is the insufferable Tyranny of the Pope and Church of Rome so strictly to keep up the old custom of Latine Service in several Countries when the reason of the first possession ceaseth and the Language is not understood And therefore in this case Augustin shall give an Answer to himself a De Baptisme contra Donatistas lib 3. cap. 6. Plane respondeo quis dubitet veritati manifestae debere consuetudinem cedere I answer plainly saith he who doubteth but that custom must yield unto apparent truth Phil. If any Nation find it a grievance they may peaceably apply themselves to the Pope and his Cardinals or to a General Council and without doubt may have Indulgence and leave granted to have the Service in their own Tongue For so I read how Cyril an Hermit who was a great Instrument under God to convert Moravia to the Faith of the Gospel having first instructed and Baptized Suatocopius their King who was overcome in a signal Battle by Arnolphus the Emperor and liv'd an Exile in the Wilderness b Aen●as Sylvius hist Bohemica cap. 13. The History shews how this Cyril went to Rome and earnestly sollicited the Pope that in Divine Service he might use the Sclavonian Tongue which was in Moravia the vulgar and it was granted Theoph. But why do you concele the most memorable Passage of the Story namely That when Cyrils request met with great opposition in the sacred Senate of Cardinals a voice was heard as from Heaven saying c Omnis spiritus laudet Deum omnis lingua confiteatur ei Ib ad finem capitis Let every one that hath breath praise the Lord and let every Tongue consess unto him And so they were in that Senate miraculously convinc'd of the Truth now controverted between us That every Nation should serve God and praise him in their own Tongue even in the public Service Now you cannot deny the Story to be credible seeing your self have made use of the first part and it was written by a famous Cardinal who was afterwards chosen Pope But as for Encouragements to ask leave we shall find very few For in the next Century Hildebrand a furious and turbulent Pope known by the name of Gregory the 7 th flatly denied the same Request made by the Duke of Bohemia Vuratislaus in the behalf of his Subjects And whereas in most of their Churches the People had before taken the liberty to use their own Language in the public Service the Pope strictly inhibits it by the Autority of Peter giving the Duke a charge for the honor of the Omnipotent God with all his power to resist such a vain and rash attemt And the lower we descend in Church History the more stiff we find the See of Rome to make any Concessions unto the People The Immunities of the Clergy must be enlarged and the Laics kept under a blind obedience and to this end their little or no understanding of Gods Worship and of the Mysteries d Binius part 1 ma. 7 Tom. Conc l 6. Epistolarum Greg. Pap● 7. Epistola 11. Ne fiat quod à vestris imprud exposcitur autorit beati Petri inhibemus c. of Religion and of the Holy Scriptures is very subservient Phil. You are proud and of a Schismatical Spirit and so pretend great difficulties to excuse good maners Theoph. It is the usual course with Men of your Church to supply their defect of Arguments and Reason with railing I have all this while wondred at your patience but you have not bin long acquainted with their waies But in answer to your reproof I will tell you It is no part of good manners to ask leave to serve God in that way which he hath prescrib'd with the heart and with the lips and with understanding also a Lib. 30. cap. 5. contra Fauseum Manich. neque evim cenceditur secundum Veniam nisi peccatum S t Augustin tells us Indulgence is given to such things as are not lawful in themselves Prove it unlawful to understand our Praiers and we will ask your leave to do so And that we do not pretend difficulties is manifest for your Church is so far from allowing the public Service in a known Tongue that it scarce permits any to use their own Language in their private Devotions training up their Proselytes Men Women and Children to say their Pater noster the Creed the Penitential Psalms their Ave Maries in Latine and so like Parrots they are taught to speak what they understand not in particular to utter broken Latine and many Incongruities the intention of heart and mind all the while being not determin'd to those Petitions which they make with their lips For altho they have a moral perswasion that they say the Lords Praier when they mumble out the Pater noster yet for the distinct Petitions they are altogether to seek as I have had occasion to make the trial For when a Female Proselyte of Rome gloried that she could say her Praiers in Latine rehearsing her Pater noster when she came to the fifth Petition Demitte nobis debita nostra I interrupted her and demanded what that Petition was which the then put up to God she answered She could not tell distinctly but she knew in general that she said the Lords Prayer Now certainly it is necessary that the heart should know when the tongue asks forgiveness of Sins that so it may be smitten and deeply affected with a sense and shame of sin in general and with some particular sins which lie as a burthen upon the Conscience and would come into remembrance at that instant when we with understanding beg pardon And the same reason holds for all requests made to God we ought distinctly to understand them that we may be suitably affected with a due sense of our wants Did you never read the complaint which the Lord made to his Prophet Isaiah chap. 29. ver 13. This People draw near to me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me

de verba Dei cap. 15. Omnium consensis hae al●is praestant antiquitate amplitudine gravitate Theoph. For the Antiquity of the Roman Language let the Grammarians discourse it For the amplitude and universality thereof I acknowledg that it did spread far with the Roman Conquests especially in the Western Empire which was call'd Orbis Latinus so that it became the vulgar Tongue unto many Nations In Africa we have those Noble Orators Tertullian and Cyprian living in Carthage writing Tracts and Epistles in Latine unto all sorts unto Men and Women Lay and Clergy which shews that Language was then vulgarly understood Tertullian wrote two Books to his Wife in Latine A third De habitu muliebri A fourth De cultu seminarum unto Women A fifth to Virgins Develand Virginibus Cyprian writes his familiar Epistles to the Martyrs and divers others many of them of the common people Augustin Bishop of Hippo in Africa made all his Homilies and Lectures unto the people of his Congregation in Latine and therefore that Language was commonly understood for your self acknowledged that we ought to Preach in a known Language to the People nay he expresly tells us e Lib. 1. Retract cap. 20. Volens causam Donatistarum ad ipsius humillimi vulgi imperitorum at que idiotarum nobitiam pervenire psalmum qui ab ●is canttur latinas literas feci Ipse psalmus habetur Tom. 1. cap. 1. That being willing the Donatists cause might be understood even by the unlearned and vulgar sort of People be composed a Psalm according to the Latine Alphabet to be sung by all the people wherein the choice Heads of their Schismatical pretentions were contain'd The Psalm begins thus a Ipse Psalmus habetur Tom. 7. cap. 1. Omnes qui gaudetis c. The Latine Tongue therefore was become as the vulgar in Africa and so the Learned shew of many Countries in Europe by reason of the Roman Conquests and Colonies which for brevity I omit But in after Ages thro the Incursions of the Goths and Vandals and Lombards Gauls and Sarazens into the Western Empire there arose a great change and variety of Languages insomuch that neither in Italy it self nor in any other Country did the people understand the Latine Tongue and therefore the Argument of Universality for that Tongue now ceaseth For the Gravity of the Latine Tongue wherein that consists I do not understand and when Kemnitius urg'd as we do that the Latine was neither more sacred nor venerable then other Tongues b Non dicimus eam graviorem aut sanctioram si ●ererba spectemus sed hoc ipse esse gratiorem magis venerandam quod nonsit vulgaris Lib. 2. de ver Dei cap. 15. ad sinem Bellarmine acknowledges it to be true if we consider the words themselves but the Latine is more grave and venerable because it is not the vulgar Tongue Which answer of Bellarmine if it hath any shew of Truth and Reason doth as well prove the English Tongue to be more grave and venerable in France and Spain c. then their own proper Tongues because unto them it is not the vulgar Tongue And yet this is one of his special Arguments which he urgeth why the Majesty of Divine Service and public Offices should be in the Latine Tongue which is not understood because it requires a more grave venerable Language then are the vulgar Tongues of every Country c Ibidem Videtur omnino majestas divin offic requirere linguam ●agis gravem venerandam quam sunt illae quibus vnlgo utimur We see wise and learned Men in the defence of palpable Errors somtimes are put to shifts and urge Arguments of no weight and consequence to amuse only Children and Fools For ought therefore that hath bin offer'd to prove it the Latine Tongue appears not to be more grave and venerable then others Phil. Here hath been a long digression to no purpose Theoph. Confer notes and you will find it pertinent to the present business and it will be useful to other purposes hereafter Phil. I cannot divine what will be your future intendments neither can you deny the Latine Tongue to be the common Language in Europe better understood then any other at least by the Learned so that with that Tongue you may travel into all parts and meet with many who understand it Theoph. It is believed of late the French Tongue will carry us farther then the Latine but what Inference will you make if we grant your Postulatum that the Latine is the most communicating Language understood by the Learned in every Country Phil. It is most agreeable to the Communion of Saints in all parts of the World that public Praier should be made in lingua communissima as Bellarmine speaks a Ibidem Alias tolletur communicatio Ecclesiarum c. In that Language which will most communicate with other Nations and Churches that when Strangers and Travellers come among us some of them may understand our Service and join with us therein otherwise neither the learned nor unlearned will ever come to Church but in their own Country Theoph. This is an Argument of great charity towards Foreigners and of little regard to Natives that the Service of the Church should be at home in an unknown Language in Latine to the end that Strangers when they travel in any Country may understand some of them the Service and so be encouraged to come to Church And in truth this Argument concludes for us that public Praier should alwaies be in known and vulgar Tongues for if Foreigners will not come to Church if they understand not the Service for the same reason our Country-men will not come to Church if the Service should be perform'd in an unknown Tongue Phil. However the Latine Tongue hath had long possession thro-out the Western Church in the Divine Service of every Country until some new Masters and Reformers in divers places did thrust it out and the general practice of the Church should much prevail with sober Men. b Epistola 118. Si quid herum per ●rbem frequentat Ecclesia quin ita sit faciendum disputare insolentis insania S t Augustin saith It is most insolent madness to dispute whether that should be don which the Church thro-out the whole World doth practice Theoph. I have shew'd you how the Service of God in an unknown Tongue is contrary to Gods Word c Si divinae scrip praescribii autcritas non est disputandum c. And Augustin in the same Epistle immediatly before this Quotation of yours had concluded That if the Holy Scriptures have prescrib'd what is to be don it is not to be doubted but we must do as we read and are directed Again I have shew'd how the Service in an unknown Tongue is contrary to the great end of public Praier wherein all the People of God should join with heart and affection and

Canons and Prohibitions to the season as the wisdom of the Church did judg most expedient and when you examine well their Arguments and Reasons perhaps you may be constrain'd to allow of them Theoph. There must be a strange transformation of Mens minds and manners when the Holy Scriptures which were written for our Instruction and to make men wise unto Salvation shall prove pernicious unto their Souls Phil. As wholefom Food unto sick Stomachs Theoph. But the Holy Scriptures are both Food and Physic to the Soul and were certainly written for all times and for all conditions of Men. Phil. I pray have patience to hear their Reasons before you answer them Theoph. I expect first you should return a sober Answer unto the Holy Fathers of the Primitive Church who as you have heard do so seriously recommend the study of the Scripture unto all Men. Phil. I did not expect you should use so many shifts and subterfuges and I am almost perswaded that being conscious to your self of their convincing Evidence therefore you decline to hear their Arguments Theoph. That will appear in due time and place but have you in earnest no Reply to make unto those Exhortations of the Fathers to read the Bible Phil. Your principal Quotations are out of Chrysostom and Bellarmine hath told you He was an Orator and used to speak Hyperbolies to affect his Auditory Theoph. And I have shew'd how this good Father thro-out his Works so frequently recommends the study of the Scripture as a substantial point of Doctrine and Duty which he press'd upon his hearers not as an embellished flower of his Rhetoric But I pray What Answer doth Bellarmine or any other Champions of your Church give unto the other Fathers Phil. I do not find they have taken much notice of the rest they suppose perhaps one Answer will serve them all Theoph. As one Shoe will sit every Mans Foot And this indeed is very observable That Bellarmine in his great reading should omit Jerome and Basil and Origen and the rest and take notice only of Chrysostoms Expressions and thift them off as Rhetorical Flashes and Hyperbolies and not serious Exhortations to read the Scripture His subtilty without doubt promted him to concele the others for the advantage of his Cause least the pregnant Testimonies of so many Fathers should prevail with sober Men to search the Scripture more then all the Prohibitions of their Church and novel Arguments to restrain them from it And it is his Artifice that he might seem Ingenious to take notice of one Father opposing him that so the unwary Reader being not well vers'd in the Fathers might suppose all the others to have been silent or on his side in the Controversie Phil. You are pleasant with your own Conceits but their Arguments will make you work to answer them Theoph. I have great confidence in the merits of the Cause and do not despair of a ready Answer unto all opposition that shall be made against such a mesur'd Truth which we defend Phil. Bellarmine a Lib. 2. De verbo Dei c. 15. shews how the Old Testament was publicly read to the Jews in the Hebrew Tongue when the People did not understand it because in the Captivity the Jews had forgotten their own Language and learn'd the Chaldee and the Syriac And therefore after their return into Judea it is written Nehem. 8. 7 8 9 12. how the Priests and Levites caused the People to understand the Law They did read in the Book distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites taught the People and all the People made great mirth because they had understood the words that were declared unto them Theoph. Here is not one word to shew the People did not understand the Language wherein the Holy Scriptures were read but that the Priests and Levites gave the sense interpreted to them the Law of God and caused them to understand the meaning of the Words nay it is expresly said ver 2. That Ezra brought the Law before the Congregation both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding And again ver 3. before those that could understand and all the People were attentive unto the Book of the Law Neither may we well suppose that they had forgot their Mother Tongue in the time of their Captivity but only mix'd and corrupted it in some Words Seventy Years is too short a date to change the Language of a People Withal it might be remembred that some Learned Men of the Roman Communion have said That the Jews were not so long Captives in Babylon that from the desolation of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar burn'd the City and the Temple until Cyrus his command for the Jews return there were but 30. Years And that the term of 70. Years so much spoken of by the Prophet Jeremiah did bear date from the 13 th Year of King Josiah's Reign about the time when Ninevy was destroied and the Assyrian Monarchy was translated to Babylon and those great Neighbors prov'd very terrible and by the Prophet were pointed out to be the destruction of Jerusalem And withal we know the three last Prophets after the return of the Jews from Babylon Haggai Zechariah Malachy encouraging the People to build the Temple and the City spake unto them in the Hebrew Tongue and therefore doubtless the People understood it Nay we read expresly Acts 22. 2. S t Paul spake to the Jews gathered together in a great multitude and tumult in the Hebrew Tongue and therefore for a while heard him with patience when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew Tongue to them they kept the more silence And it is manifest by that which follows ver 21. that they understood him Phil. Bellarmine brings a Confirmation that the Jews did not understand the Hebrew Tongue out of the Gospel of S t John Joh. 7. 49. But this people that know not the Law is cursed Theoph. Both he and you may blush to own such a simple Proof The Scribes and Pharisees there pronounced the multitude that followed Christ accursed not because they know not Hebrew wherein the Law was written but because in their account they mis-applied the Prophesies of the Messiah to Christ And if the Hebrew Tongue was forgotten among the Jews why did Matthew write his Gospel as is supposed in Hebrew for the better Information of his Country-men Phil. Bellarmine likewise shews how even to this day the Jews in their Synagogues have the Scriptures read in Hebrew altho most of them understand it not Theoph. Let the Synagogues of the Jews and the Church of Rome in this regard lay their heads together to justifie their unreasonable practice by the Autority of one another Phil. But what say you to this next Argument which seems demonstrative The Apostles and Disciples preach'd the Gospel unto all People Nations and Languages and yet they did write the Gospels and

upon the Saints in Heaven Theoph. Make that good and I shall undoubtedly become your convert Phil. Remember this when we draw towards a conclusion mean while I will not spare to give the premises and proofs Bellarmine undertakes to prove expressly b Quod Sancti sive Angeli sive homines piè ac utiliter à viventibus invocantur That the Saints in Heaven whether Angels or men are piously and profitably call'd upon by us who are Living Theoph. Can you tell the reason why he puts his proposition in such unusual terms the common distinction is of the Angels and Saints in Heaven but he calls them Angels and men and both by the name of Saints Phil. You cannot deny but that Angels are Holy Persons and by consequence that they are Saints Theoph. It is not material what they are by consequence but you know the Angels are not commonly call'd Saints when you propose to speak of the Saints in Heaven none will understand you of the Angels and then for the other member of the distinction c Sive Angeli sive homines Men the Souls of just Men departed are not men The man is dead his immortal Spirit lives and upon this Account when you call upon Peter and Paul to pray for you alas Peter is dead and Paul is dead their blessed Spirits are with God but not their Persons before the general Resurrection Phil. These are but frivolous exceptions do not betray your fears by diverting me from the Cardinals proofs First he alledgeth that plain Text for the Invocation of Angels Gen. 48. 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads You see the Holy Patriarch Jacob invocates the Angels blessing upon Josephs two Sons Ephraim and Manasseh Theoph. It is Jacobs Option not a formal Invocation his desire not his praier we may suppose rather that Jacob sends up his hearts desire to God that the Angel which did alwaies deliver him might be a Guardian to these Lads when Isaac blessing Jacob said Gen. 27. vers 29. Let the people serve Thee and Nations bow down to Thee doth he therefore invocate Nations and People or rather pray to God that he would bring it to pass This answer sufficeth if Jacob by the Angel understood a created Spirit but the context makes it evident That the Angel stands for Christ the second person of the Sacred Trinity because he is join'd in this Benedicton with the God of Abraham God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God that fed me all my life long until this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads Observe I pray what great d Oratione quarta contra Arrianos Athanasius saith to this place having prov'd the unity of the Father and the Son because they are join'd in the same prayer 1 Thess 3. 11. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you He proceeds to declare That no man can pray to receive any thing from the Father and from an Angel or any other creature no man will say let God and the Angels give Thee and then directly answers this Benediction of the Patriarch That he did not joine a created Angel with God that made him in the blessing neither forsaking him that nurisht him doth he seek for an Angels blessing upon the children but stiling him the Angel that deliver'd him out of all his troubles he manifests that he did not understand any created spirit but Christ the word whom he joines with God the Father in the blessing knowing that he is called The Angel of his great Councel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Septuagint Herunto agrees a Thes l. 30. cap. 10. Cyrill of Alexandria The Patriarch of God means the Father and by the Angel the word of the Father whose name is the Angel of his councel b Hemil. 66. in Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysostom makes God and the Angel to be the same whose benediction Jacob implores A graceful Soul to God saith He how doth he retain the memory of his favors fixt in his heart He that nurisht me from my youth hitherto he that deliver'd me out of all evil bless these Lads 'T is much the Learned Cardinalshould take no notice of these signal Autorities but bring a Text in two regards impertinent to his purpose as you have heard to prove the Invocation of Angels which would not however infer the Invocation of Saints departed Because Angels are Gods ministring Spirits and more constant in the affaires here below then are the Saints in Heaven of whose Ministerie upon earth we have no account given in the Holy Scripture only that they sing and Bless God and worship him incessantly in Heaven Phil. Give me leave to proceed and shew how our Doctors prove the Invocation of Angels and then I will manifest likewise how it confirms the Invocation of Saints Bellarmine brings three Texts out of the book of Job to shew the early usage of praying to the Angels Job 5. 1. Call now if there be any to answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn Job 19. 21. Have pity upon me have pity upon me O my freinds for the Hand of the Lord hath touched me Job 33. 23. If there be a Messenger with him an Interpreter one of a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Then he is gratious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom Theoph. If these be proofs nothing can miss the mark if calling be invocating and Saints be Angels then the first Text may stand the Cardinal in some stead and Eliphaz his Autority must uphold it But the context shews the meaning of the words Eliphaz would have Job enquire and call any one that fears God to witness whether any perished being Innocent Chap. 4. vers 7. or whether a man can be more pure then his Maker Vers 17. Job had complain'd sadly of his affliction and his friends design'd to put him upon the search whether these severe Judgments did not fall upon him for some secret sins The second proof is as wide from the mark as Heaven from the earth his three friends did persecute his Innocency with their grand error and mistake That God never afflicts but for sin and Job intreateth them to spare and pity him For why do ye persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh as it follows in the next vers 22. Phil. Bellarmine shews how S t Augustin in his Commentary upon Job refers both these Texts unto the Angels Theoph. Read S t Augustin in his second book of Retract c. 13. and you will find him doubtful whether he should call it his book Liber cui titulus Annotationes in Job utrum meus habendus est haud facile dixerim Or rather his who collected his imperfect notes he tells us his