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	tradition_n	9,173	5	9.2350	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29214	A sermon preached at the opening of the lecture at Maldon in Essex, lately established by the Lord Bishop of London in vindication of the antiquity of the doctrine of the Church of England / by William Bramston ...	Bramston, William, d. 1735.	1697 (1697)	Wing B4243; ESTC R18304	16,131	26

though the Church of England may be later than the Church of Rome in such respects as these either because our Conversion to the Faith might possibly have been after theirs or again because our particular establishment as it now stands was enacted many Ages since the first settlement of a Christian Church at Rome Yet our Religion now may be ancienter still than their's at present if they are now changged and degenerated as 't is demonstrable they are from that Christian Purity which anciently denominated them an uncorrupted part of the Catholick Church and we now faithfully adhere with all Uprightness and Integrity which we are ready to make appear we do to that Faith of Christ which was once delivered to the Saints and as by many other Churches so anciently maintain'd by the Church at Rome For as their new corruptions and additional definitions of Faith must fall short of those Ages wherein Christianity flourished with all Truth and Purity and those can be no other than the Days of Christ and his Apostles so the old truths retained and prosessed by us must have been then most triumphant and prevailing And therefore that which has puzzled so many weak and unlearned People of our Communion to wit the question about the Age of our Religion and our Church may easily be resolved if they distinguish the Antiquity of Seat and Place which is nothing to the business from the Antiquity of Truths and Doctrines and this distinction must be allowed good even by our Adversaries themselves if they consider that the dispute now is not about the Antiquity of particular Sees and national Constitutions but the Antiquity of Faith and Religion its self which I hope may be the same in a Church of Yesterday's Conversion as it was in Antioch which had the honour to give the first Name to Christians Did the Church of Rome at any time esteem her own Antiquity lessened upon such a Consideration as this that St. Peter erected his Apostolical Seat first at Antioch before ever he had arrived at Rome Or will she acknowledge a deference due to that Church in point of Faith and Purity because she had the happiness to be Christened before her I doubt the Mother and Mistress of all Churches as she delights to stile her self could never stoop to such a Condescension If my Faith be found and perfect now can it be believed the more new and up-start because not professed by my Fore-fathers who knew not the Truths Or does my late Conversion if good and upright diminish or derogate from the Antiquity of Truth its self The Antiquity of all other things is calculated from their Original and beginning in the World and why the same rule won't do in Faith and Religion I understand not Indeed if any particular Church cou'd make out a continu'd Succession in all circumstances of Doctrine and Discipline from the times of the Apostles unto this very day this wou'd no doubt be an incomparable Argument both of her Antiquity and of God's especial Goodness and Providence over her But the present Roman Church can no more make out such a Succession than the present Church of England and if she could still such a Succession is not to be esteem'd the only mark of Truth and Antiquity And this I think cannot be more clearly illustrated than from Matter of Fact to which we may appeal in this case for instance there can be no Question but the ancient Faith of Christ is now professed by the true Faithful of Christ and shall continue to be so professed till the Day of Judgment and yet there is now no particular Church of the Faithful that can make out such a Succession nor any one Church endowed with an assurance of continuing indefectibly in that very State in which she is now till the Day of Judgment I know the Church of Rome wou'd fain have us believe her inspired with these infallible Accomplishments but she must produce a better Scheme of her Perfections than what we meet in her Trent Definitions or she will never perswade us that she is any more like the Church Establish'd at Rome by St Peter than St. Peter himself was like the most changed and backsliding Apostle For as to her Magnificent Stile in writing her felt the Church Apostolick this must appear rather a Character of Ornament and Shew than any certain signification of her necessary continuance in Truth and Purity For were not the Apostolick Sees as liable to relapse and degenerate as any founded by their Successors Where is the glory of Antioch Ephesus and Alexandria which the Apostles themselves planted and watered with the Dew of Heaven which those Heavenly Shepherds nourish'd with the blessed Food of Evangelical Righteousness And notwithstanding all the applauses with which the present Romanists exalt themselves I doubt not but were St. Peter to arise this moment from the Dead and visit the Conclave or inspect the Councils of Rome but he wou'd be very much put to it where to find Faith on Earth I say therefore her being founded by an Apostle if we grant thus much can no more Entitle her indefectible in the Faith than it has the Churches of Antioch Ephesus and Alexandria which have either altogether failed and forsaken the Name of Christ or are at least according to their own Roman Tenents quite cut off for Schism or Heresie from the Communion of what they call the true Church let her shew when and where God has anointed her with this Oyl of Perfection above her Fellows But now then if an Apostolick Church may thus recoil and become impure nay since Christianity shall not fail why must not some Churches be most pure which yet are not Apostolical I mean taught and instructed by the lively voice of the Apostles If this be bad arguing what may we think of all the Churches Converted and founded many Ages since the days of the Apostles Or if this be a good Inference what Objection can it be against any particular Church which is sound and upright in all her Doctrines that she has not continued for ever that she is yet but of a very late Birth and Duration If her Doctrines are as Old as the Scriptures can the Religion of such a Church fall short of the Age of the Gospel If her holy Principles flourished in the ancientest Creeds and Councils can she reasonably be Reproach'd for an Innovation of Two Hundred Years ago This is the very case of the Church of England and for the truth of it we appeal to the Scriptures to the ancientest Creeds and Councils Indeed the Church of Rome makes a great noise and show with the flourish of her Succession but if she means a Succession in purity of Doctrines we may easily convince her of Vanity and Tattle if she means a Succession in the outward circumstances and appearances of a Church such as consists in true Pastors Bishops and the like I answer that there may be such

still he is to be sure that he is in the right But can any thing here touch the Proselytes of Rome who without troubling Scripture or Reason for the confirmations of their Evidence tell us they enjoy a far more insallible Rock and certainty of their Faith to wit the Voice and Testimony of the Church In truth if we search into this Rock it will appear no other than that Sandy Foundation which was the choice of the foolish Builder Let us reason the Case with some Roman Votary Does thy Church sayest thou tell thee thy Faith is true then let me ask thee how thou knowest that the Church which tells thee so is true her self doest thou appeal to the Marks and Notes of a true Church then I demand again how dost thou know what peculiar Marks and Notes are the Marks and Notes of the true Church Or again how is it become certain to thee that all these peculiar Marks and Notes do particularly fit and agree with thy particular Church in all respects He that gets over these Questions without Scripture and Reason must be Master of more than a Jesuitical slight and artifice for this must be to judge of Notes without Judgment to pronounce a conclusion without Premises for where the conclusion is the result of Premises there must needs be reasoning Indeed this can be no other than to reply Why she is true because she is true And yet I dare boldly affirm they shall never be able to get further in the certainty of Faith who shall first reject the Scriptures as too ambiguous and unintelligible and then renounce their Reason as a thing dangerous and reducing all to a private Spirit But they are not brought to a stand yet they have behind a glorious reserve they will still tell us they have Councils and Fathers on their side but to express the weakness of this hold how many Volumes of Learn'd Protestants are there extant which remain so many monuments of the groundless vanity of their Plea from Fathers and if the four first general Councils may be allow'd worthy of the name of Councils we defie the most Artificial Crafts men of them all to produce thence but one line which may appear serviceable to the cause of Popery But to leave this Contest with the Learned must it not be ridiculous in any unlearned Man to renounce the Scriptures which were written on purpose for his Instruction in Religion and which he may of himself be able both to read and understand as to all matters of belief and practice and betake himself to pleas from Fathers and Councils when he is not able so much as to tell the Letters of that Language in which those Fathers and Councils were written when he can be able to judge neither when those Fathers writ nor yet what one Opinion they have left behind them must there not be a much more rarional satisfaction from such a plain Text of Scripture as this Drink ye all of this to invite us to receive the Cup than a Thousand pretended Quotations from such Fathers and Councils which the unlearn'd are able neither to disprove nor comprehend to affright us from the Cup that we shou'd be deceived by the plain real truths of the Gospel 't is impossible but the real Doctrines of fallible Men will be liable to deceive us But after all is not this to relapse and be found tampering with the dangerous consequences of protestant reasoning thus to alledge Councils and Fathers For why does any Man appeal to Councils and Fathers fancies he makes them the measures of his belief at least of the truth of that point in which he appeals to them wou'd he believe as he does if he apprehended he had no reason from their authorities to believe so and then how does his Faith disser more from that of a private judgment than the Faith of a credulous Protestant who declaies he believes thus and thus because he judges the Scriptures enjoyn him to believe thus and thus all the difference that I can perceive between the two Churches here is this The one to wit the Papist Reasons from the Testimonies of fallible Men but the other namely the Protestant from the assurances of the infallible Dictates of God's Holy Spirit That which here determines the Belief in both is no doubt one and the same thing viz. Man's private Judgment which influences the one to believe so and so and the other to believe thus and thus because it appears most reasonable to them to believe so And I appeal to any one of that Church whether he wou'd thus absolutely give up his Faith to the Church did he not think he had great reason so to do and then again whether that Man which owns thus much does not in great measure acknowledge himself a Judge of the Principles of his Religion let them talk what they will the Papist judges for himself as well as the Protestant for if we are said to judge when we declare to believe the Scriptures upon the authority of an Universal Tradition may not they be said to judge when they declare they believe in the Church upon the single authority of her own assertion If they please they may deny what both they and we do practice and indeed what is not only undeniable but what the very Voice and Commandment of God has enjoyn'd us to perform in one place directing us to try all things and hold fast that which is good in another place believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no Again be ye ready to render a reason of the hope that is in you nay lastly we have the express approbation of our Saviour himself telling us If the Blind lead the Blind they shall both fall into the Ditch and again why of your selves judge ye not what is right Can any thing be more clear than that the Holy Ghost in these places excites us to respect our own Judgment and Reason in the choice of our Religion For how shall that Man be able to render a Reason of his hope who makes a Profession of a hope upon no Reason at all How shall he judge the Spirits that tries them not Or again how shall he make tryals who professes to use neither Judgment nor Reason in matters of Religion Nay further how comes our Saviour to wonder so much why Judge not of your selves what is right if nothing be more disagreeable to true Righteousness than a Man 's own private Conclusions and Judgment I say again these Texts must refer to the tryals of Religion and therefore we may bid much good may do them with their implicit Faith which is as much as to declare as to my Religion I believe what I know not and I know not what I must believe which is to approve the Spirits without trying and to conclude them to be of God without so much as enquiring what kind of Spirits they are of