Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	apostle_n	church_n	creed_n	2,605	5	10.2206	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41019	Virtumnus romanus, or, A discovrse penned by a Romish priest wherein he endevours to prove that it is lawfull for a papist in England to goe to the Protestant church, to receive the communion, and to take the oathes, both of allegiance and supremacie : to which are adjoyned animadversions in the in the [sic] margin by way of antidote against those places where the rankest poyson is couched / by Daniel Featley ...	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1642 (1642)	Wing F597; ESTC R2100	140,574	186

their originall Fountaine sith the most of them if not all might be gathered out of more ancient Liturgies For which See Biblioth Patru to 1. And if it be so then it may be said That the mud of Popery fell into them but they sprang not from Popery but from purer fountains * It hath been I confesse a long custome in the Latine Church ever since Pope Vitalian to celebrate the Church Service in the Latine tongue but it was never the custome of the Catholique or Vniversall so to doe The Greeke and Syrian and African and other Churches had from the beginning and have at this day their Service in their own languages Neither is the reason the Priest alleadgeth here of any force namely That w as the Catholike Religion is universall so it should be exercised in an universall language which he will have to be the Latine For first there is no necessitie that the Catholike Religion which is universall should be exercised in an universall language but rather in all languages Secondly since the division of tongues at the tower of Babell there was no language universall in all the world the Greeke was for a time the furthest spread and after the Romane but neither of them nor any other was spoken or understood by all Christians and at this day if we may beleeve travellers no language is so generally knowne and spoken as the Slavonian Thirdly the unity of language maketh nothing to the unitie of Religion or the Church neither doth the Apostle require that the Divine Service be performed in any one tongue but that it be done in a knowne tongue to the edification of the Church 1 Cor. 14.4.12.14.16 And to that end among others was the gift of tongues given x See page 28. Letterr. y See the lettero. pag. 17. z See the letter R pag. 28. a This definition of an heretique is both defective redundant defective for every obstinate deniall of an article of faith makes not an heretique unlesse his conscience be clearely convinced of his errour out of the word of God it is redundant also for a man may be an heretique by denying any article of faith though that article be not proposed to him by the Catholike Church to be beleeved though but his pastour or any other religious Christian out of Gods word clearely propound it to him and prove it or it be read by himselfe in the Scripture if he obstinately persist in the denyall thereof after his conscience is convinced he becomes an heretique b The Protestants of England know other Churches besides their own and some have learnedly discoursed of all the Churches in the Christian world as Purchas Brierwood Mocket Mr. Paget and others 〈◊〉 true it is they acknowledge no infallibilitie in the Roman or any particular Church nor receive any Church for true and Orthodoxe which consenteth not with them in all points of faith either expresly set downe or by cleare and necessarie consequence deduced from holy Scriptures c The Protestants hold nothing contrary to the Catholique Church though they hold many things contrary to the present Romane Church which is neither the Catholike Church nor a sound member thereof as is proved invincibly by Iohn Reynolds praefat thesium Sect. 12. Thes. ss 27. Apol. 5.23 And Bilsons answer to Cardinall Allen part 4. And Abbot against Bishop in a Treatise intituled The true ancient Romane Catholike to which none answer hath yet beene given nor sufficient can be d With what face can he say that the Protestants are incredulous and beleeve not the truth Who entirely beleeve the whole doctrine of the Scriptures together with the three Creeds that which beares the name of the Apostles the Nicene and that of Athanasius together with the foure first generall Councels in which time the Church most flourished as also the joynt Doctrine and unanimous consent of all the Fathers both of the Greeke and Latine Church for five hundred yeeres after Christ our Lord came into the flesh Let this traducer of the reformed Churches answer punctually whether he beleeveth that the learned Doctors Confessours and Martyrs who lived and died within the first 500. yeeres held the entire Catholique faith necessary to salvation or no If they held it not how were they saved upon what good ground or warrant are so many of them canonized for Saints even by the Roman Church but on the other side if they beleeved all things necessary to salvation how can we be esteemed incredulous or defective in our faith who beleeveth all that can be proved to have beene joyntly beleeved and unanimously professed by them e Is this the holy Romane Religion to make a May-game of Religion and to goe to Sermons as to a play to make themselves merry and dispell a Melancholly dumpe Besides their owne third commandement enjoynes them to keepe Holy-dayes and their owne Casuists allow the Lords day to be a day that is holy And is this a piece of holynesse to goe on such dayes to a play yet neither doe I beleeve that he can readily name the man much lesse many men that spake fustian with gravity in our Pulpits but I am sure he who patched up this Safeguard out of rags of Religion and falshood speaks Linsewoolsey through his whole Discourse and contrary to the law ploweth with an Oxe and an Asse The later of which here brayeth irrationally and unjustly against the generalitie of Protestant Preachers and Sermons Forsooth we are silly weake and ignorant men but they are all profound Gamaliels nay Angelicall and Seraphicall Doctors Whereunto I answer as Saint Paul did to the calumnies of the false Apostles 2 Cor. 10.12 We dare not make our selves of the number to compare our selves with them that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves understand not The Catholiques he saith are Hounds ●lood Hounds I grant and our Ministers timorous Hares they dare not encounter the weakest Romane Catholique they neither understand the controversies of Religion nor dare meddle with any in their Sermons If this were true which all our hearers know to be most false yet me thinks Iuv●nal speaks very good reason Loripedem rectus derideat Aethiopem albus And what great Clarks I pray were those of whom Boniface Bishop of 〈◊〉 ●p●ke in his time heretofore we had woodden Chalices and golden Priests ●ut now we have golden Chalices and woodden Priests what great Gamaliels were they of whom Bonaventure complaines Quidam sacerdotum ●lavem habent he speaketh of the Key of knowledge quidam claviculam quidam nullam what was he upon whom Sir Thomas Moore thus playes in his ●pigr●m tu bene cavisti ne te ulla occidere possit litera nam nulla est l●tera nota tibi Be not frighted at the words of the Apostle the letter killeth thou hast taken good order that it shall not kill thee for thou knowest not a lett●● What was he

they can alleadge some speciall priviledge to the contrary but divers generall Councels have erred A generall Councel of Prophets 1 Kings 22.12 erred saying The Lord shall deliver Ramoth Gilead into the Kings hand a generall Councel of Priests Matthew 26.65 erred damnably in condemning Christ for a blasphemer guiltie of death The generall Councel held at Arminum erred denying the Sonnes equalitie with the Father at Ephesus confounding the two natures in Christ at Nice under Irene decreeing that Angels are to be painted because they are of a corporeall nature at Constance denying the Laitie to be bound to receive the communion in both kindes against the expresse precept of Christ Matth. 26.28 and Iohn 6.53 And of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.28 At Florence and after at Trent defining that the effect of the Sacrament depends upon the intention of the Priest or Bishop who administreth it Which if it were true no man in the Roman Church could ever be assured either of his baptisme or of his confirmation or of his absolution or of his ordination or of the validitie of his matrimonie or of his safe adoration of the Host or of the vertue of his extreme unction For how can he certainly know the intention of the Bishop or Priest who administred unto him these rites all which they account sacraments Neither can they evade by saying that these Councels might erre because they were not confirmed by the Pope for the Popes were present at all these later either in person or by their Legates and it is for certain that their second Councel at Nice was confirmed by Pope Adrian at Constance by Pope Martine at Florence by Pope Eugenius at Trent by divers Popes Lastly if Councels had an immunitie from error the prayer which they made at their Councels registred by Gregory the Great l. 7. Epist. were a meere mockerie The prayer was conceived in this forme Quia conscientià remordente tabescimus ne aut ignorattia nos traxerit in errorem aut praeceps forsitan voluntas impulerit a iustitia declinare ob hoc te poscimus te rogamus ut si quid offensionis in hac concilii celebritate attraximus condonare et remissibile facere digneris Because we pine away through remorse of conscience fearing lest either ignorance have drawn us into error or a headie will driven us to swerve from justice for this we pray thee we beseech thee that if we have done any thing amisse in this great and famous assembly thou wouldest vouchsafe to pardon it I conclude therefore with the words of Leo in his Epistle to Anatolius who lightly phillips off the authoritie of the generall Councel held at Ephesus in which there were above 600. Fathers In one word Tanquam refutari nequeat quod illicitè voluerit multitudo as if that could not be refuted which a multitude hath unlawfully determined giving withall most wholesome conusell to all Councels nulla sibi de multiplicitate congregationis concilia blandiantur Let no Councels flatter themselves with the great multitude of persons assembled in them as if that might priviledge them from errour n Here least the Reader should before he be aware be bitten by a snake lying under the grasse I hold it necessary to distinguish between two questions which may seem to be a like but indeed are very different The first whether Papists may goe to Protestant Churches The second whether a Protestant may goe to a Popish Church He that shall give the same solution to both these questions shall give a greater wound to the Protestant cause in the latter then his plaister will salve in the former The Protestants and Papists in this stand not upon even tearmes for there is nothing in the Protestant Liturgie or Service which the Romanists doe or by their own Rules can except at The Confession forme of Absolution Prayers Hymnes Collects Lessons Epistles and Gospels are either such as the Papists themselves use or at least such as they dislike not whereas it is farre otherwise in the Romane Missall For there is sprinkling exorcised water censing books and pictures worshipping images invocation of Saints prayers for the dead intercession by the prayers and merits of souls departed and which is the height of all idolatry adoration of their Host or breaden God and all this service performed in an unknowne tongue contrary to the expresse order of the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. all which the Reformed Churches condemne and abhorre and whereas this Author alleadgeth there can be no text of Scripture brought forbidding Papists to come to our Church I beleeve him but on the other side there are many expresse Texts of holy Scripture from whence it may be strongly inferred that no Protestant whose conscience is convinced of the manifold idolatries and superstitions wherewith the Romish Liturgie is polluted can with a safe conscience goe to Masse as namely Psal. 26.4 I have not sate with vaine persons neither will I goe in with dissemblers I have hated the congregation of evill doers and will not sit with the wicked 1 Cor. 10.7 Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them vers 14. Wherefore my dearely beloved flee from idolatrie 1 Ioh. 5.21 Keepe your selves from idols 2. Cor. 6.14 What fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse or what communion hath light with darknesse vers 16 What agreement hath the Temple of God with idols vers 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the uncleane thing and I will receive you o Although I have no meaning to drive away Papists from our Churches nor purpose to enervate the kindly and right arguments which this Priest bringeth to perswade them thereunto yet I cannot let passe this wherwith true Professours may be very much scandalized For what religious heart doth not tremble to thinke of going in and bowing in the temple of an ●doll in which as the Apostle teacheth the service that is done and the sacrifice that is offered is to devils 1 Cor. 10.20 and no better was this Rimmon the Syrian idoll I answer therefore 1 that the case of conscience Naaman put was not whether he might goe with his Master into the house of Rimm●n and offer sacrifice with him unto the idoll but whether he might not waite upon his Master thither and performe a civill for the bowing spoken of was as C●i●tan well noteth genuflexio obsequii non imitativa a bowing to the King not to the Idoll o●●ice to him or make an obeysance whilest the King leaned on his hand and yet his heart smote him for this and his conscience misgave him that the Lord would be displeased with him for it for so much his prayer importeth The Lord pardon thy servant in this thing Secondly the words of the Prophet Elisha Goe in peace doe not necessarily import an approbation or permission of that which Naaman pro●ounded but either a meere forme of valediction as if he had said in our

of whom Poggius writeth that after he had said Masse bidding the Feast of Epiphanie he spake to the honest rusticks on this wise My good neighbours to morrow you are to keepe good cheere and celebrate a high feast the feast of Saint Epiphanie a most holy wight but whether Epiphanie were male or female a he Saint or a she Saint I finde it not in my books What was he that Christened a childe with this forme of words Ego baptizo te in nomine Patria Filia Spiritua Sancta What was he who reading in the Gospel of Saint Iohn invenimus Messiam lept out of his skin for joy saying Now to the confusion of all Hugonots I have found the Masse in the new Testament What was he who reading in the Epistle Melchisedec Rex Salem panem vinum protulit translated it thus King Melchisedec brought forth salt bread and wine What was he who in a dispute about putting hereticks to death most Clarke like prooved his conclusion that hereticks ought to suffer death because the Apostle saith Hereticum post unam aut alteram admoni●ionem devita 1 Titus 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is shun or avoyd but this silly animal mistooke the ver●e devita for a proposition and a nowne as if the Apostle had said de vitá out of life with him Neither doth Pope Siricius better argue against P●iests marriage Men in holy Orders must not contract Matrimonie because the Apostle saith They that are in the flesh cannot please God neither Innocentius against Lay-mens reading Scripture The beast that touched the Mount was to be thrust thorow with a dart Ergo. The people must not meddle with the Scripture As for their manner of preaching who so much scorne and deride ours let all travellers speake whether it be not thus A Parish Priest or some Monk or Frier gets up into a spacious Pulpit and there runs himselfe out of breath from one side to the other before his houre glasse be halfe run of whom a man might well demand as some one did in Tully of a declaimer Quot millia pass●um declamasti When this shaveling betweene whose head and heaven there is not a haire first appeares to the people he crosses himselfe as their manner is when they are affraid of evill spirits then reads the Gospel of the day in Latine whereof the people understand not a word and after he hath spent some time in translating it and scored out his way he conveighes a prayer into a parenthesis concluding it with an Ave Maria. After this resuming the words of his Text in the handling of them he robs and deplumes the late written pos●ils upon that ●ospell and like the Crow in the Poet Cloathes his Discourse with the choicest of their feathers in the end sticks two or three gaudy feathers out of the Peacock● taile I meane the golden Legend telling them how St. Domin●ck spying the Devill sitting in the Church like a Sparrow called him to him pluckt off all his feathers and put him to a great reproach or how St. Dunstane tooke the Devill by the nose with a paire of tongs fire hot Or how St. Bernard●lest ●lest good Ale and giving the same to certaine lewd persons caused divine grace to enter into them And here if the Author and his Consorts please to be merry at Sermons spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici But if any more ingenuous Papists like Lodovicus Vives condemne the Author of your golden Legend for a man of a brazen face and leaden heart and bring better stuffe yet even these come farre short of the Preachers of the Reformed Churches in many remarkable particulars First all the Popish Preachers take their text out of the Gospel or ●pistle of the Day but the Protestants confine themselves not to those parcels of Scripture but make choice as God shall direct them for the most profit of their flocke of any part of the Canonicall Scripture to expound it Againe the Protestant Preachers in their translation follow the originals the Greeke and Hebrew the Papists as they are bound under paine of a curse follow the corrupt vulgar Latine which they may not upon any pretence reject The Protestants deliver no Doctrine of faith for which they bring not Gods word The Papists ground many of their Doctrines upon unwritten Traditions or Decrees of Popes or Councels The Protestants build upon the true foundation gold silver and precious stones that is heavenly solid and precious Doctrine conformable to holy Scriptures The Papists hay and stubble as namely the putting Thrones and Dominations with Archangels Angels Cherubins and Seraphins in ranke and file a Geographical● description of foure Regions under the earth Hell Purgatory Limbus Patrum and Limbus Infantum an imaginary treasury of super-abundant satisfactions to be dispenced by the Pope hallowing of Water Salt Creame c. Christening Bels Singing Dirges and Trentals Pilgrimages Whippings Masses without Communicants dry Communions censing Pictures Invocation of Saints worshipping of Images with Reliques and such like trash f De te fabula narratur unlesse you can substantially refute Vigniers his Theater of Popes or Plessis his Historia Papatus or Abbot Down and Powell and infinite others accurate and elaborate Treatises De Antichristo you must aske blessing of the whore of Babylon as your mother g Will you call it the same wine which was powred out into two cups whereof one hath store of rats-bane in it See pag. 16. letter ● and pag. 33. letter u h There was never such a prophane gamster heard of as this Masse-Priest who playeth not only with the word of God and prayers but with Sacraments here and most solemne oathes hereafter what horrible prophannesse what detestable hypocrisie is it I will not say for a Lay Papist but a Romish Priest not only to be at our Service but to stay at the Communion to heare the Ministers exhortation out of the Apostle to all persons that come to the holy Table Diligently to try and examine themselves before they presume to eate of that bread and drinke of that cup for as the benefit is great if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy Sacrament for then we spiritually eate the flesh of Christ and drinke his blood then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us so is the danger great if we receive the same unworthily for then we be guiltie of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour we eat and drinke our own damnation not considering the Lords body we kindle Gods wrath against us when we provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death Nay more if he joyne with the whole congregation in the rehearsall of the words of the institution and the consecratory prayer will he present himselfe on his knees for he excepts no Ceremonies and receive the consecrated elements delivered to him with these