Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	catholic_a	church_n	creed_n	1,395	5	10.7130	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20770	A treatise of the true nature and definition of justifying faith together with a defence of the same, against the answere of N. Baxter. By Iohn Downe B. in Divinity, and sometime fellow of Emanuel C. in Cambridge.; Selections	Downe, John, 1570?-1631.; Baxter, Nathaniel, fl. 1606.; Bayly, Mr., fl. 1635.; Muret, Marc-Antoine, 1526-1585. Institutio puerilis. English.	1635 (1635)	STC 7153; ESTC S109816	240,136	421

number of those wherein because wee all know many things but in part wee may vary in iudgement and yet the foundation of orthodoxall Faith stand safe But you take it I meane de adultis and as I haue said you doe not mistake mee and therefore you deny my Minor which when you say I proue by an instance and six reasons it seemes you passed ouer my reasons perfunctorily and without attention or cared not to let drop of your pen at aduenture whatsoeuer came next to head For I proue the Minor by one instance onely and the arguments following are no more but fiue and conclude not the Minor but the maine Question to wit that Assurance doth not iustify The instance is this Treatise I instance in those our Brethren of Germany who hold that Faith may totally and finally fall away and consequently that there can bee no certainty of Saluation whom yet the Church of God calleth and counteth Brethren and it were vncharitable to censure of them otherwise Therefore or at leastwise probable Faith is not an Assurance N. B. Whatsoeuer our Brethren of Germany hold is true but they hold that a man may be saued without this Faith Therefore this position is true O hominis acumen argumentum lepidum What mood and figure I pray you was this Syllogisme borne in But proue your Maior for we haue learned Christ otherwise then to tie our Faith vnto the opinions of any one particular Church Yea this argument sauoureth mightily of Popery which I thought you had beene as far from as I know you are in this point from Christs verity and Christian vnity For why I pray you might I reason thus as you doe to proue that works doe iustify a man before God and merit eternall life The Church of Rome holdeth so Ergo the Position is true Ob. But you will say they are no Brethren A. I answer they bee the Church of God if wee belieue M. Caluin and M. Bunny citing this place Antichrist sitteth in the temple of God Ep. Tract of Pacif But hee sitteth at Rome Therefore Rome is the temple of God But I pray you let vs not bee bound to defend the errors of our Brethren neither too hasty to discouer them And that this opinion is an error let the whole course of the Scripture declare Darij Darij Whosoeuer liueth byaboue4 Faithaboue5 liuethaboue3 foraboue1 eueraboue2 But the Saints of God liue for euer Therefore they liue by Faith for euer All the gifts of God be without repentance Faith is the gift of God Therefore without repentance That which continueth vnto the end and is made perfect cannot finally fall alway Perficiet vsque ad finem bonum Phil. 2. Fides est opus Dei Ioh. 6. Ambr. 2. Cor. 6. Aug. in Ioh. Tract 106. col 513. But Faith continueth vnto the end and is made perfect Therefore it cannot finally fall away See what the Fathers say Neque fides vera est si non sit perpetua sed possit deficere Neither is Faith true Faith except it bee perpetuall and cannot fall away Credere verè est credere inconcussè firmè stabiliter fortiter To belieue truly is to belieue without wauering firmely stedfastly and strongly I. D. There is a little triobolar pamphlet commonly called Baxters Logicke the Authour whereof I thinke you esteeme as skilfull in that Art as euer was Zeno or Aristotle himselfe Though I could neuer find in my heart to loose an houre or twaine in perusing it yet I perswade my selfe no man can better resolue you in what mood and figure this Syllogisme was borne But if not satisfied herewith you will needs know my opinion also thus I thinke without all figure it was borne in a peeuish mood For it is farre from my thought and purpose to maintaine that Whatsoeuer our Brethren of Germany hold is true or that Faith once infused can either finally or totally fall away and if you were not either desperately impudent or brutishly ignorant you would not so haue forced my words and obtruded such vnreasonable reasons vpon mee For thus I argue Our Brethren of Germany may bee saued yet they haue not this Assurance Ergo some that haue not this Assurance may bee saued The Maior is grounded vpon the iudgement of Charity and the censure of Gods Church calling and counting them Brethren Such is the iudgement of Beza Sadeel Iewel Epist 2. ad Dudith Posnan Assert conf in notà vnitatis In Apol. and Defence of Apol. De Eccles q. 5. c. 8. In thesi 5. On the Creed Whitaker Reinolds Perkins and whosoeuer is borne within the temperate zone of Christian loue and not vnder the burning region of intemperate zeale or frozen climate of vncharitablenesse The Minor is thus proued because they hold that Faith may finally and totally fall away For whether this Position bee true or false is not materiall in this place onely if they hold so as questionlesse they doe then can they not bee assured which is my Assumption For to bee certaine of Saluation and in possibility of damnation are incompatible and cannot stand together These things being so to what end take you so much paines to shew that it is not alwayes true which some one Church holdeth troubling the Reader with your needlesse Obs and Sols and why doe you alledge so many Scriptures to proue that Faith cannot faile a truth I neuer doubted of For herein you doe but plow the Sea-shore and let flie at Sempronius when it was Titius that strake you Neither is it a matter of any hardnesse or difficulty to refell the most of your arguments if I would spend time and oyle about it for like a bungling work-man you haue marred a good cause with ill handling For example to giue you a little tast of your weaknes this way that wee are not to tie our Faith vnto the opinions of any particular Church you proue because the contrary sauoureth mightily of Popery And yet Popery teacheth not that a particular Church cannot erre nay doth not define that the particular Church of Rome cannot erre but only alloweth that priuiledge vnto the Catholicke or Vniuersall Church Againe to proue that Faith cannot finally or totally fall away thus you reason Whosoeuer liueth for euer liueth by Faith But the Saints of God liue for euer Therefore they liue by Faith for euer May I not now in requitall of your scoffing exclamation crie out O hominem obtusum argumentum stupidum For first you conclude that the Saints liue by Faith which is not the point in question Secondly you haue one tearme in the Conclusion not found in the premisses namely liue by Faith for euer and so your Syllogisme is a meere Paralogisme Lastly if to perfect vp the Syllogisme you vnderstand the Maior Proposition thus Whosoeuer liueth for euer liueth by Faith for euer then doe I flatly deny it for they that liue for euer liue onely in this life by Faith

beleeuing And to these the Seales of the Couenant of grace the presence of God his blessings do appertaine also If then you would bee assured that both the promises seales belong vnto you ioine your selfe to such companies and performe the condition with them and the Spirit of adoption will certifie and assure you thereof If you will not you must seek out of the world or hang euer in doubt for in the world there are none but such companies Act. 2.41.42.47.11.21.24.18.27 Mat. 18.17.20 1. Cor. 5.4.5.12.13 Ps 149.9 4. How els should it haue or vse the power of Christ to receiue in members ioyning vnto them or to cast out such as are obstinate offenders It is true there is a power giuen by Christ vnto the Church ●o receiue into their Society such as professe the entire Faith of Christ in Vnity but whether they professe the same in sincerity also that the Church cannot tell and yet receiues them Againe shee hath power to censure and cast out obstinate offenders but yet hereby it appeares that the Church visible is a mingled cōpany and that offenders are to bee accounted members thereof vntill by a legall proceeding they be cut off Suppose that the Church grow remisse in denouncing offenders and tolerate them too much this argues that corruption is crept into the Church not that is no Church 5. Because that euery Church as they haue Communion with Christ and are one body with him 1. Cor. 10.16.17 Hag. 2.12.14 1. Cor. 5.6 Num. 19.13.20.22 5.2.3 Heb. 12.15 so haue they Communion also one with another and are all one body and by communion with open wicked retained among them are all defiled The members of euery Church haue I grant both Vnion and Communion one with another the Christian Church in the Christian Faith the Orthodoxall Church in the entire Christian Faith the Catholicke Church in the entire Christian Faith with Vnity the Inuisible Church in the entire Christian Faith with Unity and Sanctity This last Vnion and Communion is onely among the Saints the former may bee both betweene good and bad That if you speake of you speake not of a Visible Church and so nothing to the purpose this if you speake of you speake vntruly as wee haue shewed Moreouer to say that the toleration or presence of open wicked sinners in the Church defiles either the godly or the holy things of the godly is to make the sin of the wicked more powerfull to hinder the descent of heauenly blessings then Christs loue and vnion with vs is auayleable to conuay them vnto vs. And then was Christ much to blame who suffered the Sacrament euen at the first institution to be polluted with Iudas presence But you should consider that priuate conuersation is one thing and publicke Church-meetings another which you ignorantly confounding beguile your selfe Priuatly you may refuse at pleasure to conuerse with the wicked in publike assemblies you cannot auoid them That is in your owne power but to remoue them thence is in the Magistrats only Ps 84.10 Cant. 16.7 Os 2.2.19.20 2. Cor. 6.15 Reu. 1.11.12.20.17.1.5 6 How else should a true and visible Church bee truly and rightly distinguished from all false Churches Here at length haue you discouered vnto vs the very ground of your errour in that you cannot see how a true visible Church can bee distinguished from a false if notorious offenders bee suffered to haue any communion therein Learne then that true and false Churches are differenced by hauing or wanting the forme and essence of a Church The Christian Church is discerned from Heathnish Iewish Turkish congregations by the Christian Faith an Orthodoxe Church from an Hereticall by an entire Faith a Catholicke from a Schismaticall by an entire Faith held in Unity and the Inuisible Church from all other by the Sanctity of euery member but this is knowne to God onely the rest may bee discerned by man also You ought therefore to put a difference between a Corrupt Church and a false Church A false Church wanteth the essence and therefore is no Church a corrupt Church wanteth onely the purity it should haue yet hauing the essence it is a Church Which if you had well considered you would not haue condemned our Church if yet so corrupt as you weene for no Church vnlesse you would also say a sicke man were no man much lesse would you haue rent your selfe from it And thus you see your second ground failes you also and that you haue not demonstrated that sound members are to separate themselues from the communion of the whole body because of a few rotten mēbers Now therfore except you haue stronger arguments then here you haue sent me or can adde more strength and vertue to these I must intreate you to remember your promise that if it could appeare by euident remonstrance that your grounds were sandy deceitfull you would retire your selfe into the bosome of that Church out of which you haue so scandalously withdrawne your selfe Which if you shall sincerely doe you shall both quit your selfe of the fearfull sin of Schisme into which you are fallen and reunite yourselfe vnto as glorious a Church as I verily beleeue hath beene since the Apostolicall and Primitiue times Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent Reuel 2.5 OF VOWES AND SPECIALLY THAT OF VIRGINITY YOVR desire to bee resolued touching the vow of Virginity or Single life both how lawfull it is how farre it bindes I will endeauour to satisfie you as breefly and plainly as I can first shewing you what is the nature and definition of a vow in generall and then applying it vnto your particular question for the more easie and fuller determination thereof 1. A vow rightly defined is a promise made vnto God of things lawfull by such as haue power so to doe thereby to testify their affection and duty towards him This short definition containing the whole and entire nature of a lawfull Vow I will for your better vnderstanding vnfold in the seuerall parts thereof 2. I call it a Promise not a Purpose for a Purpose being only an inclination of the minde to do something binds not vnto performance and is alterable without sin But a Promise comprehendeth both a Purpose and Obligation also binding the Conscience vnto performance absolutely if the forme of the Promise be absolute conditionally if conditionall 3. And this promise whether it be internally conceiued in the heart or externally vttered by the mouth it is all one vnto God who vnderstandeth as well the language of the one as of the other Yet as in Praying so in Vowing speech is not vnprofitable the solemnity thereof both more inwardly affecting our selues and by example more edifying others 4. The Party to whom Vowes are to bee directed is God only for it is a part of diuine worship and enioyned in the third commandement A part of diuine worship I say simply if it bee of things

iustice but as it is an exercise or declaration or perfection of Faith 12 Concerning the word Faith sometimes it signifieth that sanctifying grace of Gods spirit whereby wee beleeue in or on God that is put all our affiance vpon God in Christ for Iustification and Saluation sometimes a naked assent or agreeing to all the truths contained in the Scripture specially such as are Euangelicall That is only of the Elect this the Diuels haue That either hath works following it as in Abraham or is great in child of works ready to trauell and bring forth if God giue time as in the theefe on the crosse This many times is without works and therefore dead and spiritles Of that S. Paul speaketh of this S. Iames. That sole but not solitary iustifies this being solitary iustifies not 13 In a word S. Paul speaks of the cause of Iustification S. Iames of the Effect S. Paul descends from the Cause to the Effect S. Iames ascends from the Effects to the Cause S. Paul resolues how wee may bee iustified S. Iames how wee may bee knowne to bee iustified S. Paul excludes works as being no Cause of Iustification S. Iames requires works as fruites of Iustification S. Paul denies works to go before them that are to bee iustified S. Iames affirmeth that they follow him that is iustified 14 Others distinguish and reconcile them thus Iustification is sometime vnderstood without implying Sanctification sometime as it implyeth also Sanctification with it In the former sence S. Paul taketh it when hee proueth that a man is iustified by Faith without works S. Iames in the latter when he concludeth that a man is iustified by works and not by Faith only And this I suppose to be a very sound interpretation 15 Howsoeuer that Faith alone without the works of the Law in the sence aboue deliuered doth iustifie these ancient Fathers auouch together with us Origen Cyprian Eusebius Caesariensis Hilarie Basil Chrysostome Ambrose Augustin Cyril Primasius Hesychius Gennadius Oecumenius whose direct and expresse words I can at any time produce Nay these late Papists also least it should be thought that none but Protestants hold it the Canons of Collein the authors of the booke offered by Caesar vnto the Protestant Collocutors in the assemblie of Ratisbon Pighius Cassander Stapulensis Peraldus Ferus and others who count themselues as good Catholiks as they that hold otherwise 16 And this only Faith is so sure an anchor of our soules and such● fountaine of true comfort both in life and death that Charles the fift Steuen Gardiner Sir Christopher Blunt and sundrie others durst not at their death trust vnto their works but vnto Faith in Christ only And Cardinal Bellarmin after a long disputation touching the merit of works is faine to conclude that because of the vncertenty of our owne iustice and the danger of vaineglory the Safest course is to repose all our affiance in the only mercy and goodnes of God So that in his iudgement wee Protestants haue chosen the Safest course I for my part will neuer trust my soule vnto them who leauing so safe a course meane to hazard it through a more dangerous way OF THE AVTHORS AND AVTHORITY OF THE CREED AND WHY IT IS CALLED a Symbole THE inscription of the Creed seemes to father it on the holy Apostles calling it the Symbole of the Apostles So doe almost all the Fathers of the fourth age after Christ and downeward affirming that the Apostles hauing receiued the Holy Ghost at Ierusalem and being now ready to disperse themselues into all parts of the world to preach the Gospell thought it good before their parting to compile this Symbole that it might serue as a pledge of their vnity in the Faith and a canon for their doctrine and teaching Yea some of them proceed so farre as particularly to set downe what article was made by what Apostle whereof see Augustin in his hundred and fifteenth Sermon de tempore Now although it bee very hard for mee to sway against the streame of so maine authority yet can I not but doubt thereof Paraphr in Mat. Praef. and confesse with Erasmus I know not who made the Creed especially hauing so great probabilities for demonstrations I dare not call them that it should not bee done by the twelue Apostles For first were it compiled by them is it likely that Saint Luke writing the history of their Acts would haue omitted so principall a matter Sundry other things of farre lesse consequence hee hath carefully recorded but of this so important and weighty a businesse hee makes not so much as one word mention which certainly hee would neuer haue failed to doe had they done so Adde hereunto that not one of the ancient Fathers who liued within the three first Centuries of Christ speake of any such thing in any of their writings and yet they should best know it whose times were neerest vnto the Apostles This deep silence both of Saint Luke and all those ancient Doctors make it vnto mee more then probable that the Apostles neuer composed it Secondly as the silence of these worthies so the very language of the Creed conuinceth it to bee yonger then the Apostles For the word Catholike vsed in the Creed was not knowne in their time Can any man thinke that the Church should then bee called Catholike when it was not Catholike For when they say this Creed was compiled the Church was scarce begunne among the Iewes and the Apostles had no where as yet preached the Gospell among the Gentils But heare the expresse words of Pacianus Bishop of Barcilona Sed sub Apostolis Ad Sympronian Epist 1. inquies nemo Catholicus vocabatur Esto sic fuerit Vel illud indulge cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent diuersisque nominibus columbam Dei atque Reginam lacerare per partes scindere niterentur nonne cognomen suum plebs Apostolica postulabat quo incorrupti populi distingueret vnitatem neintemeratam Dei virginem error aliquorum per membra laceraret In the Apostles times you will say no man was called Catholicke Bee it so Yet by your leaue when after the Apostles heresies were risen vp and by diuersity of names they laboured to rent and teare in peeces the done and queene of God was it not requisite that those which were Apostolike should haue a sirname of their owne whereby the vnity of those that are vncorrupt might bee distinguished and the error of none might rent in peeces the immaculate virgin of God Thus hee Against which if it bee obiected that the Epistles of Iames Peter Iohn and Iude are called Catholicke I answer the Inscriptions and Subscriptions of the Epistles are not Apostolicall but added to them by some other and sometime vntruly Neither is there any reason they should bee so stiled aboue the rest For neither is the doctrine contained in them more Catholicke then of all the other Epistles neither were they written to all the

themselues of the vniust imputations of heresie and apostasie wherewith they were charged haue beene forced sundrie times to set forth seuerall Confessions of their Faith all which or most of which are recorded in the harmonie of Confessions Scurrilous therefore is that taunt of Papists who for this cause terme vs Confessionists For what haue we done herein whereunto their slanderous criminations haue not compelled vs what whereof we haue not example from the Primiue Church Nay what whereof we haue not Gods expresse commandement 1 Pet. 3.16 charging vs to bee ready on euery occasion to render an account of the Hope that is in vs But yet among all the ancient Creeds this of the Apostles hath euer beene counted of greatest authority and ought still so to bee counted Among the ancient Creeds I say for the Scripture is peerles and equall authority with it neither may it chalenge vnto it selfe neither did any of the ancient Fathers giue it as aboue wee haue touched For although the substance and matter of the Creed be diuine and perfectly according with the Scripture yet for forme and order of words it is humane whereas the Scripture both for substance and circumstance matter and forme and all is no way humane but wholly and entirely diuine The greater the blasphemie of Rhemish Iesuites auouching this Creed to be the Rule whereby all the writings of the new Testament are to be tried In Ro. 12.6 and approued whereas contrarily the Scripture out of which the Creed is collected is the only Rule by which both it and all other Creeds are to bee examined Howbeit the second place as it is its due so we willingly yeeld vnto it First in regard of the antiquity thereof because of all other it is the eldest Secondly for the perfection and fulnes thereof there being no one article of absolute necessity vnto Saluation which is not either in expresse tearmes or impliedly and in its principles contayned therein Thirdly and lastly because it hath had the vniuersall approbation of all Churches in all times both ancient and moderne The ancient Fathers giue vnto it most honorable and magnificent titles They call it the key of Faith the rule of Faith the foundation of Faith the summe of Faith the forme of Faith the body of Faith the rule of truth the sacrament of humane saluation the mysterie of religion the character of the Church and the like On it they commented rather then on any other Creed vnto it all others were conformed so as they seeme to be but expositions of it Finally it was their manner neuer to admit any that was adultus either to the Sacrament of Baptisme or to the holy Eucharist without making confession of his Faith by rehearsing this Creed In like manner all the reformed Churches with all reuerence and duty receiue it they vse it in their publick Liturgies and expound it in their Catechismes The more malitious is the slander of Gregorie Martin and others Disc of Eng. trans c. 12. who shame not to say that we hold not the Christian Faith of the articles of the Creed Yea saith another of vs they haue no faith nor religion Tho. Wright Att. they are infidels they beleeue not the holy Catholick Church the communion of Saints the remission of sins that Christ is the sonne of God or that he descended into Hell And as if these had not yet said enough Credo Caluiniscq another opening his mouth as wide as Hel affirmeth our Creed to bee this I beleeue in the Diuell the tormentor helmighty corrupter of heauen earth And in not-Iesus-not-Christ the only stepsonne degenerate who was spoiled of his glory by the holy Ghost and borne of Mary no Virgin c. To all which I answer Increpet te Dominus the Lord rebuke thee Satan If they haue called our master Belzebub it can be no disgrace to vs to suffer the same reproch The more incredible things they charge vs withall the lesse are themselues beleeued and the more credit do wee gaine vnto our profession All what is contayned in holy writ in this Creed of the Apostles in that of Nice and Athanasius wee firmely and entirely beleeue Let Hell and Antichrist and all the brood of Papists burst with malice and enuy yet this and no other Faith do wee hold and teach A SHORT CATECHISME QVaest Who placed you here in this World Ans God the maker and Gouernour of all things Q. Wherefore did hee place you here A. To serue and glorify him Q. How will he be serued A. By doing his holy Will and Commandements Q. What Commandments hath hee giuen you A. The ten Commandements of the Morall law Q. Repeat them vnto me A. Heare Israel I am the Lord thy God which c. Q. What duties doth God require of you in this law A. Two to loue God aboue all and my neighbour as my selfe Q. Haue you done this perfectly A. No neither yet can I nor any man els Q. Why can you not A. Because all are conceiued and borne in sinne Q. How commeth that to passe A. By the fall of our first parents Q. Had you obeyed the law what had beene the reward A. Life euerlasting Q. What is the punishment of Disobedience A. Euerlasting death Q. Your case then it seemes is very miserable A. Very miserable vnlesse God bee mercifull in Iesus Christ Q. What is Iesus Christ A. The Eternall Sonne of GOD made Man Q. Wherefore was he made Man A. To die for mans sin and to reconcile him vnto GOD. Q. Are all men reconciled by him A. No but true belieuers onely Q. Who are true Belieuers A. They who by faith accept him for their only Mediatour and Sauiour Q. How is this Faith wrought A. By the preaching of the Gospell Q. What is the summe of the Gospell A. It is contained in the Apostles Creed Q. Repeat the same vnto me A. I Belieue in God the Father Almighty maker c. Q. How may we know that we haue true Faith A. By the fruites thereof Q. What are the fruites of Faith A. New Obedience and Repentance Q. What is new Obedience A. A sincere practice of holynesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of my life Q. Can you doe this perfectly A. No but if I striue vnto perfection God in grace accepteth it Q. But what if you fall into sinne againe A. I am to rise againe by speedy repentance Q. What call you repentance A. A hearty sorrow for sinne with the amendement thereof Q. You say it must bee speedy tell mee wherefore A. Because if I bee preuented by death I perish eternally Q. What is the benefit of Repentance A. Forgiuenesse of sinnes with recouery of Gods fauour Q. You haue told mee how Faith is wrought and how it may bee discerned tell me now how it must be nourished and preserued A. By the vse of the Sacraments and Prayer Q. What is a Sacrament A. A seale of the