Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	believe_v	faith_n	revelation_n	2,830	5	9.5573	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03883	A treatise concerning the ground of faith. VVritten in Latin, by the reuerend Father Iames Gordon Huntley of Scotland, Doctour of Diuinity, of the Society of Iesus. And translated into English, by I.L. of the same Society. The second part of the second controuersy; Controversiarum epitomes. English. Selections	Gordon, James, 1541-1620.; Wright, William, 1563-1639.	1614 (1614)	STC 13997A; ESTC S118149	27,760	72

but often tymes leaueth and forsaketh them the which they proue out of that place of the 29. or 30. Psalme the eight verse Thou hast turned thy face from me and I became troubled For thus they affirmed in that famous disputation had at Paris Anno 1566. 5. Fiftly there wanteth that fulnesse sufficiency because no priuat man can define all poynts of fayth seeing that many were defined before he was borne against the ancient heretikes and there wil be many things defined in the Church after his death assoone as there shall arise any new heresies 6 Sixtly there wanteth necessity For before there was any priuate man which now liueth there was true fayth and the same fayth will continue after he is dead 7. Seauently there wanteth the seauenth property of the rule of fayth seing that by this priuate spirit a Christian cannot be distinguished from an Infidell But in truth all heretikes do bragge and boast that they haue this priuate spirit wheras notwithstanding one cōdemneth or rather damneth another 8. Eightly there wanteth the eight property For no point of faith can be certainly deduced out of this priuate spirit only seeing that it is oftentymes vncertayne and deceitfull 9. Ninthly there wanteth the ninth property For it is a ridiculous thing for one to endeauour to conuert an infidell to the fayth by bragging only that he hath this priuate spirit the which none can eyther see or vnderstand 10. Tenthly there wanteth the tenth and last property because there is no mention made of this priuat and particuler spirit in the Apostles Creed 11. And the true spirit of faith which is in euery faythfull soule wherof the Apostle speaketh when he sayth that we haue the spirit of fayth is not the ground or reason of fayth we heere speak of but it is the helpe of God or the supernaturall gift of fayth whereby our vnderstāding is helped to belieue and it is in regard of our vnderstanding as it were the efficiēt cause of the acts of faith But we speake in this place of the formall cause or reason of fayth as it appertayneth to the obiect of fayth which is the word of God and by which we know what is the true reuealed word of God and what is not For albeit the holy Ghost and the gift of faith moue vs to belieue yet they do not rashly moue vs without any reason or ground For he as the wise man sayth who belieueth quickely is light of hart but with a solid and sure ground according to those words of S. Iohn do not dearely beloued belieue euery spirit but proue the spirits whether they be of God But this proofe and tryall necessarily requireth some good reason and sure ground whereof we will speake in the next Chapter 12. Lastly it is to be considered that we do heere dispute of the Catholik faith as it is necessary to al to attaine their eternall saluation not of the speciall fayth of one or other ●…he which we know very well may arise or proceede from some particuler or extraordinary reuelation of God but this is not the Catholike fayth nor an ordinary but an extraordinary fayth not to be admitted generally of all till it be approued and receyued by the Church as presently we will declare more at large CHAP. V. That the Catholike Church is the ground or rule of our Faith THAT the Catholike and visible Church is the most solide and true ground of our faith is manifestly proued by the former properties of the Ground of faith For all those ten properties do very well agree to the Church and to nothing els besides The Church hath the first property to wit a continuall and neuer-interrupted duration For the Church hath alwaies continued as we haue already proued euen by the testimony of our Aduersaries 2. The Church also hath the second property that is to say a most certaine and vndoubted truth because she can neuer erre in faith as we haue proued before 3. She hath also the third property that is to say the infallible certainty on our partes because in the doctrine of the Church we may haue the greatest certainty perspicuity and euidency that possibly we can desire Seeing that the Church is alwaies present who explicateth alwaies her mynd vnto vs in plaine and manifest wordes And if at any tyme there arise any doubt or Controuersy in her decrees she presently declareth it no otherwise then if the Prophets other writers of the ould and new Testament were yet aliue and would clearly explicate their mynds vnto vs in their owne proper words For it is the same holy Ghost who in tymes past spake by the mouth of the Prophets and Apostles and who speaketh now by the mouth of the Church for it is not you that speake but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you 4. The Church hath the fourth property For there is exceeding great strēgth and immutability in the doctrine of the Church For this truly can neuer be corrupted falsified or chaunged because the Church is alwaies present who alwaies giueth most cleare and euident testimony of her owne doctrine This doctrine also of the Church remayneth alwaies constant and immoueable because the holy Ghost is alwaies present who will not permit the Church to erre according to those wordes of Christ I will aske my Father and he will giue you another Comforter that he may remayne euerlastingly with you 5. The Church hath the fifth property that is to say the fulnesse and sufficiency of doctrine For the Church teacheth all thinges necessary to saluation according to that promise of Christ When the spirit of truth shall come he will teach you all truth So that the Church hath hitherto condemned all heresies and heerafter also will condemne all errors arising and oppugning the Catholike faith In like manner she alwaies answereth to all doubtes and difficulties proposed vnto her because she is alwaies present and alwaies liueth 6. The Church hath also the sixt property that is to say necessity For no doctrine must be recevued as a point of faith vnlesse it be receyued and approued by the Church as we haue declared before by the example of S. Paul who although he receyued his Ghospell immediatly from God by the reuelation of Christ yet he was commaunded by reuelation to go to the visible Church and to conferre the Ghospell which he preached with those who were in the visible Church least perhaps in vaine he should runne or had runne 7. Yea and others could not safely belieue him vnlesse his doctrine had byn approued by the Church as Tertullian S. Hierome and S. Augustine well note The Apostle S. Paul saith S. Augustine called frō heauen if he had not found the Apostles with whome by conferring his Ghospell he might appeare to be of the same Society the Church would not at all belieue him Thus S. Augustine And much more

A TREATISE CONCERNING THE GROVND OF FAITH VVRITTEN In Latin by the Reuerend Father Iames Gordon Huntley of Scotland Doctour of Diuinity of the Society of IESVS And translated into English by I. L. of the same Society The second Part of the second Controuersy Permissu Superiorum M. DC XIV THE FIRST CHAPTER Whether the Church be the foundation and ground of our faith And of the true state of this Question IF the pertinacy of our Aduersaries were not so great it were an easy matter to define this questiō out of those few wordes of the Apostle affirming that the Church is the Pillar and ground of truth for seing that our faith relyeth vpon truth that is to say vpon the most true word of God and that the Church is the Pillar and ground of this truth it must needes follow that the Church is the Pillar and ground of our faith as afterward we will declare more at large But because our Aduersaries goe about to ob●…ure this great and renowned prayse of our Church we will treate of this matter more exactly especially because this is a question of great importance seing that theron dependeth our whole faith For euery thing relyeth and dependeth of his foundation Moreouer heereby is declared the great excellency and authority of the Church Hence also other opiniōs of our faith are to be proued which our Aduersaries deny their errors confuted and they themselues very easily conuinced but that the true state of this Controuersie may the better be vnderstood three thinges are to noted 2. The first is that euery science and doctrine hath her grounds principles out of which all other thinges are deduced proued and depende wherefore we must heere diligently examine and search out the true principles of our faith least otherwise our faith become doubtfull and vncertaine 3. The second is that there are two principles of our faith the one that God is true and the Author of truth the other that these thinges which we belieue are spoken and reuealed vnto vs by God There is lesse difficulty of the former principle For all who confesse that there is a God may easily know euen by natural reason that he is true or rather the very Truth it selfe And seing that he is the chiefest good he can deceiue no body and seing that he is Wisdome it selfe he cannot be deceyued Hereupon the Apostle taketh this as a principle manifestly knowne by it selfe It is impossible for God to lye 4. But the doubts and difficulties which we cōceyue cōcerning matters of faith do especially arise of the secōd principle to wit because we know not certainly that such things as we belieue are reuealed by God for hence ariseth the whole cōtrouersy with Iewes Turkes Heretikes For all do cōfesse that God is true but the Turkes say that their Alcorā was reuealed vnto thē by God the Iewes their Talmud the Anabaptists their bible corrupted maymed by them the Antitrinitarians their blasphemies vttered against the Blessed Trinity the Lutherans their opinions the Caluinists theirs and the Catholikes theirs And hence it is that we need greatly some sure foundation principle rule and meanes whereby we may know certainly which is the doctrine indeed reuealed by God and which is not otherwise our fayth will alwayes remayne doubtfull and vncertayne 5. The third is that God is accustomed three wayes to assure his Church of this his reuelation The first way is when God himselfe appeareth frō heauen and speaketh to his Church for so in tymes past he spake vnto all the children of Israel when he gaue them the tables of his Law in the mount Sinay 6. The second is when God speaketh to one alone from heauen and he sendeth him to the Church that he may reueale vnto the whole Church such things as God hath spoken vnto him So in tymes past in the old Testament God spake by himselfe to Moyses and Moyses reuealed the same things to the people And in the new Testament Christ in this manner reuealed his Ghospell to S. Paul which he afterward reuealed vnto others But these two wayes are extraordinary and are ceased as all docōfesse excepting only a few Anabaptists and Swenkeldiani whose madnesse and folly all men disproue 7. The third way is ordinary which alwayes remayneth in the Church and whereof the whole controuersy is For almost all Lutherans the purer sort of Caluinists will haue the sole Scripture to be the foundation and rule wherby we may certainly know the true reuelation of God from the false But Caluin himselfe at the first blush seemeth to attribute this to the sole Scripture and very cōtumeliously inueygheth against Catholikes who deny it whome therefore he calleth brauling and sacrilegious persons yet a litle after he reduceth the principall and cheifest certaynty of Scriptures and of our whole fayth to the particuler and priuate spirit of euery belecuer The late Caluinists do put two grounds and rules of fayth to wit the Scripture and this priuate spirit But Catholikes do teach that neyther the Scripture alone is sufficient nor this priuate spirit togeather with the Scripture but moreouer the spirit and authority of the whole visible Church is necessary And this is the true state of of this question 8. We will therfore explicate foure things that this whole controuersy may more clearly be defined First what are the properties and conditions of the ground of fayth for by these the ground it selfe will easily be knowne For euen as by the properties of a man it may be knowen who is a true man and by the properties of any other thing the thing it selfe may be knowne So by the properties of the ground of fayth the ground it selfe wil be knowne Secondly it shal be proued that the Scripture alone is not a sufficient ground or rule of fayth Thirdly that neyther any priuate spirit will suffise Fourthly that the authority of the Catholike Church is the most true ground and rule of fayth CHAP. II. The properties of the ground and rule of our fayth are alledged THERE are ten properties of the ground or rule of fayth and they are so manifest and certayne that none can doubt thereof The first is the continuall and neuer interrupted duration thereof to the end of the world For euen as fayth and the Church do alwayes endure continue so must also the ground of fayth seing that nothing can consist without his foundation and ground 2. The second propertie is the most certayne and vndoubted truth thereof in so much that it neyther can deceyue any nor be deceaued in any thing appertayning necessarily to saluation for otherwise it should be vncertaine and doubtfull yea also the fayth it selfe should be false and hurtfull vnto vs. 3. The third propertie is the certaynty therof on our part For it is necessary that the true fayth be not only certayne in it selfe but also to vs. Because error and

the Ghospells of S. Marke and S. Luke who were not Apostles but only their disciples stood in need of this approbation of the Church Here upon saith Tertullian If he from whom S. Luke receyued his light desired to haue his faith and preaching authorized by his predecessors how much more reason haue I to desire the like for the Ghospell of S. Luke seeing the same was so necessary for the Ghospell of his Mayster Thus farre Tertullian 8. And hence it is that the reuelations of S. Brigit and S. Catherine of Siena albeit they were truly reuealed vnto them by God yet they do not appertayne to the Catholike faith because they are not approued by the Church as the vndoubted and certayne word of God 9. Euen as also in the Apostles tyme many before S. Luke wrote the acts of Christ as S. Luke himself testifyeth and yet notwithstanding the Ghospells only of two of them to wit S. Matthew and S. Marks are authenticall for it is well knowne that S. Iohn wrote his Ghospell long after S. Luke but the Ghospells of the rest who wrote before S. Luke do not appertayne vnto faith because they were neuer approued by the Church Wherby it sufficiētly appeareth how necessary the approbatiō authority of the Church is 10. The Church hath the seauenth property of the ground of faith for by the Church and her coniunction communiō a true belieuer may be distinguished from an Infidel for he who belieueth the Church and heareth her is a true belieuer but he who doth not heare her is an Infidell if he will not heare the Church saith our Lord let him be vnto thee as an heathē or publicā And S. Iohn saith he which knoweth God heareth vs he which is not of God doth not heare vs. 11. The Church hath the eight property For whatsoeuer we belieue with our Catholike faith we belieue it because it is reuealed vnto vs from God by the Church But God now reuealeth nothing to euery member of the Church immediatly by himselfe Yea euen our Aduersaries do well admonish vs to labour most of all that no way or leaue be graunted to such fantasticall reuelations 12. The Church hath the ninth property For the Church conuinceth also Turkes and Infidels by naturall reasons of which sort there are many extant in S. Thom. We proue also the Church by the very signes and markes of the Church which are manifest vnto all euen Turkes and Infidels wherof we will spake more hereafter 13. The Church hath also the tenth property because in the Apostles Creed there is expressed an article of the Church For presently after the faith of the true God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost first of al is set downe this article I belieue the holy Catholike Church 14. Moreouer that the Church and her preaching is the ground of faith euidently appeareth by the wordes of holy Scripture For when S. Paul disputeth of that faith wherby all are to be saued he reduceth this whole faith to the preaching of the Church vnto her sending calling of others to her Ecclesiasticall offices 15. So this Apostle in another place declareth that God alwaies appointed some Pastors and Doctors in his Church that we be not children wauering in faith and carried about with euery wynd of doctrine but that we may be stable and constant alwayes in one and the same faith and confession of the Sonne of God 16. Lastly those words of S. Paul are most euident wherein he affirmeth that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth Where we are to consider that euery foundation of any building hath two offices that is to say to vphould the house to strengthen it The Apostle heere attributeth thē both to the Church the one when he calleth her the pillar of truth the other when he calleth her the ground of the same truth For the pillar also of the earth according to the Hebrew phrase doth signify the lowest foūdations of the earth So God is sayd to shake the pillars of the earth elswhere to strengthen the pillars of the earth that is to say the very foundations thereof 17. These so manifest and perspicuous words of the Apostle do compell Caluin at the last to be of our opinion albeit after his accustomed māner at the first he wrongfully slaundereth vs affirming that Catholiks hold or to vse his owne words do blab out this horible blsaphemy that is to say that the truth of God is not strong inough vnlesse it be vphoulden by the shoulders of men and that the worde of God is vncertayne till by humble prayers as it were it borroweth some certaynety from men And afterward he affirmeth that the Apostle in this place would nothing els but that the truth of God is supported by the pure preaching of the Ghospell But that which he sayd first is a meere slaunder for we do not say that the truth or the word of God absolutly and considered precisely in it selfe receiueth it certainty and strength from the Church for in this sense it receiueth a most perfect strength and large authority from God himselfe but in regard of men and in consideration of our knowledge it receiueth it certainty frō the Church as afterward we will declare more at large the which also Caluin in the words immediatly following acknowledgeth to be most true when he writeth in this sorte S. Paul simply vnderstandeth sayth Caluin that which in other words he sayth in the tenth Chapter to the Romans because fayth is by hearing there wil be no sayth vnlesse there be some that preach Therefore in regard of men the Church supporteth the truth because it maketh it famous by her prayse and commendation because the retayneth it in sincerity and purity and because she deliuereth and sendeth it to her posterity Thus Caluin 18. But that which secondly he addeth that the truth of God is supported and vpholden by the pure preaching of the Church is indeed most true but he should haue considered that this pure preaching of the Ghospell cannot be foūd but only in the Church and that no others but men can preach the pure Ghospell Wherefore if the truth of God be susteyned by the pure preaching of the Ghospell it necessarily followeth also that the Church must be sustained by men and consequently that the Church of Christ is the gound of truth albeit not absolutly yet in regard of vs and our knowledge So as Beza also is forced to cōfesse the same explicating those words of the Apostle the pillar and ground of truth Vnderstand this sayth Beza not simply in it selfe but in regard of vs. Thus he 19. It is therfore manifest as well out of Caluin as Beza that the Church in regard of vs is the ground of truth or of the word of God and consequently of our fayth which relyeth thereon But that which in regard of men is