Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	authority_n	church_n	interpretation_n	4,397	5	10.0901	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12703	The high vvay to Heaven by the cleare light of the Gospell cleansed of a number of most dangerous stumbling stones thereinto throwen by Bellarmine and others In a treatise made vpon the 37. 38. and 39. verses of the 7. of Iohn: wherein is so handled the most sweete and comfortable doctrine of the true vnion and communication of Christ and his Church, and the contrarie is so confuted, as that not onely thereby also summarilie and briefly, and yet plainly all men may learne rightly to receiue the sacrament of Christs blessed bodie and blood, but also how to beleeue and to liue to saluation. And therefore entitled The highway to Heauen. By Thomas Sparke Doctor of Diuinitie.	Sparke, Thomas, 1548-1616.	1597 (1597)	STC 23021; ESTC S102434	161,682	384

they hold to be the traditions of their Church yea nothing else in effect but their Popes pleasures the best learned amongst them are not ashamed to bestow great paines to accuse the scriptures of such insufficiencie and obscuritie to this purpose as that without the helpe of these their traditions the doctrine of faith and good manners could neither certainelie nor sufficientlie be learned at a●l Yea herein they haue some of them as to their perpetuall and euerlasting shame it is well knowen Andridius Ecchius Lindan Hosius Canisius Censura Colon. gone so farre in their writings as that they haue not blusht to set it downe as a catholicke trueth that the greatest part is left to be determined by their traditions that the scriptures were left rather to be vnder the Church then to haue authoritie ouer her that it were a pittiful thing if the Church should be tied to the Canonicall scriptures in euerie thing to be ruled and oueruled thereby eye that it cannot noreuer will be well with the Church as long as the lay people are suffered to read them or to heare them red for they are so obscure and their sense is so flexible and heard to be found say they that thence all heresies are suckt and that their sense is as but a leaden rule or a nose of waxe vnlesse it be stifned streighted and kept euen by the helpe of their traditions Wherein most expresly they resemble the heretikes that Irenaeus describes in his third booke and second chapter who for traditions thus defaced the scriptures What greater blasphemies can be vttered against the maiestie of God the author of these scriptures For he hauing left them vnto his Church in his good prouidence by his penmen for hir better direction to know his will and then to beleeue and liue accordingly as out of all doubt he haith how may we thinke without doing of him the greatest wrong that may be that he hath left it therein no perfecter a rule then they hold to this end For were not this in effect to say that eyther he could not for lacke of power skill and wisedome or that else he would not for lacke of loue and care towardes it make it any sufficienter and certamer For what reason else can there be that he should vndertake begin goe forward as he hath with such a rule for the direction therof and yet leaue it when he hath done so maimed and so vnprofitable as they would make it Now to haue but eyther of these conceites of God were it not most absurde and iniurious vnto him For how can we spoile him either of infinite wisedome or of infinite and most perfect loue care to wardes his Church but withall we plainely denie him to be the true God Wherfore let vs whatfoeuer these men say to the cōtrary learne to beleeue as onely the canonical scriptures of God teach vs to that end purpose let vs now as briefly as we cā take a view what they do teach vs in this respect behalfe Concerning this point What faith the scripture heere requireth first it is out of doubt whatsoeuer the Lord hath taught or told for trueth in these canonicall scriptures we are most firmely by faith to aslent vnto to be so and therefore hereof howsoeuer to discredit vs withall the papistes would seeme to the contrary we neither make nor moue any cōtrouersie with them Yea we most heartily wish and pray that as they define faith to be a firme assent to the whole reuealed wil of God by his word that once it would please God to giue them but this faith to assent in deed without wauering to that which he hath taught in his written word in the canonicall scriptures for then all the controuersies betwixt them vs would streight be at an end But alas they enforce such a sense vpō these scriptures so equal their vnwrittē word of traditions herwith that as long as they take this course there is no hope that euer they either can or wil haue this grace wherfore to leaue them a while grounded farre more vpō their own vnwritten traditions then vpon the canonical scriptures for the substāce of their faith the next thing that we are to vnderstand touching faith is that when it is spoken of as it is here in my text it importeth more then this general assent to al trueth taught in the canonical scriptures For that brings one no further then credere Deo Deum de Deo that is to beleeue or credit God to beleeue that he is what he is wheras here in my text expresly Christ saith he that beleeueth in me thereby requiring that we should not thinke it inough to beleeue him as a speaker alwaies of trueth or to beleeue that he is such a one in person office as I haue shewed him to be for both these he hath already sufficiently called for at our hands in bidding of vs come vnto him but that it is necessarie for vs if we would haue him to be our meat drinke indeed to goe yet further that is to beleue in him Which is indeed the former lessons being wel taken out therupon as vpon a most sound foundation to ground a most certaine trust confidence that in for through and by him whollie and solie freely sullie we shal be iustified heere and saued heere after To all the former degrees of faith the reprobate and such as are destitute fo the graces of regeneration sanctification yea the verie diuels may come namely to yeald that euery thing is as God hath said it to be in his written word to credit him bicause he is trueth it self to beleue that he is that he is also such a one as he therin sets forth himself to bee this may therfore make them to tremble as Iames saith 2.19 But this is not the faith of Gods elect that Paule speakes of to Titus cap. 1. nor that which he saith worketh by charitie Gal. 5.6 nor that which is said purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 nor that whereof it is so often and so vniuersally said Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but hane eternall life Io. 3.15 c. Necessary it is that Gods elect haue all these degrees and branches of faith and the beleeuing thus farre is alwaies found in them before they can beleeue in Iesus Christ so as that through him they can haue any assurance of their saluation but if they will haue such a faith whereby in Christ Iesus they shall be iustied then they must nor stay in these generalities but they must set Christ with all his graces necessarie for either their iustification or saluation before them and by imbracing and applying him particularly vnto them all that euer he did for mans saluation as euen done particularly most certainly forthē in him and by him so made theirs they are to be assured that God hath freely

steede in this case and therefore marke it followeth in my text as saith the scripture which wordes if we referre as they may well and some interpreters haue vnto that which went before then they serue most plainely to teach vs that it is no other faith that eyther can or will serue our turne in this case but only that which is taught vs warranted to be sound right in the canonicall scriptures For they are the scriptures onely without all question that heere are spoken of But whether these words as saith the scripture here were added and vsed to this end or rather as some others take them as referred to the wordes following to teach vs to vnderstand the promise that followeth most certaine it is that the true Christiā faith wherby we must feede vpon Christ and make him with all his merits and graces our owne hath these canonicall scriptures of the olde and new Testament for the grounde and sufficient rule thereof For they onely are able to make a man wise to saluarion thorow the faith which is in Christ Iesus and are giuen by inspiration of God and are profitable to teach to conuince to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute beeing made perfect vnto all good workes 2. Tim. 3.15.16.17 And therefore for the right framing and setling vs in this faith these are to be studied and searched and most diligentlie to be mused and meditated vpon and heard red and preached by euery one that hath any care of his saluation as we may learne Deut. 17.18.19 Iosua 1.8 Psal 1.1 Io. 5.39 Act. 17.11 2. Tim. 3.15 in that in these places we shall finde men of all sorts taught eyther by plaine precept reason or example thus to occupie themselues heerein And this hath beene the ancient and sound iudgement with one consent of the Fathers for manie hundred yeares after Christ And therefore though Augustine confesse with the Euangelist that Christ said and did manie things which are not written yet saith he those things are chosen out to be written which seemed to be sufficient for the saluation of them that beleeue Tract 49. vpon Iohn and Cap. 11. And in his 19. booke of the citie of God cap. 18. to this purpose he writeth that the citie of God beleeueth the scriptures both olde and new which we cal Canonical Vnde fides ipsa concepta est ex qna iustus viuit From whence that faith whereby the iust liueth is conceiued yea none of vs can bee or is plainer in this point then hee For in his booke of christian doctrine Lib. 2. cap. 9. he saith there in those thinges quae aperte posita sunt in scriptura that is which plainely are set downe in the scriptures all those things are found which conteineth faith manners of liuing as namely hope and charitie And heerein he was so confident that in his third booke and sixt chapter against Petilean most boldly and plainly he saith if any either of Christ or of his Church or of any other thing whatsoeuer that appertaineth to faith and life I wil not say wee but as Paule said if an Angel from heauen should tell you any thing which you haue not receiued in the scriptures of the lawe and the Gospell accursed be hee And he was not alone of this minde for Athanasius before him in an oration of his against Idolaters had most plainely written that the holy scriptures enspired of God Sufficiunt ad omnem instructionem veritatis that is are sufficient to teach all trueth And Tertullian in his booke against Hermogenes sheweth that he was so resolute in this that he saith there that he did euē adore the sufficiencie of the scriptures Basilius also in his sermon of the confession of faith saith that it is a plaine falling from the faith and the verie sin of pride either to refuse any thing heerein written or to bring in ouer and aboue any thing For Christs sheepe heare his voice a strangers they fly And in his Morais definition 72. he saith that the verie hearers must be learned in the scriptures that so they may try those things which are deliuered thē by their teachers that so they may receiue those things that are consonant to the scriptures reiect those that are not yea in the 80. definitiō he concludeth whatsoeuer is without the scripture because it cānot be of faith which must come by the hearing of that which is taught in the scriptures as before he had proued must needs be sinne Cyrill Lib. ●2 in Ioannem cap. 69. with Augustine saith that though all things be not written that Christ did yet those thinges were writtē which the writers thought sufficient both for faith and manners Hierome also saith vppon the 23. of Mathew that which hath not authority frō the scriptures is as easily contemned as allowed And therfore Origine vpon the third of the Romains hath verie wel noted that the Apostle there giues other teachers in the Church an example that those thinges which they propounde to the people they should streng then and confirme not with their owne presumptions but with testimonies of the scripture For as he saith if such an Apostle thought that the authoritie of his sayinges was not sufficient vnlesse he shewed them to be written in the law and the Prophets how much more ought wee to think so of ours Hilarie also vpon the 118. Psalme notes it as a tricke of infidels and the irreligious to say that the scriptures want perfection of doctrine Seeing therefore it is most certaine and true that Irenaeus writeth in his third booke and first chapter that what the Apostles first preached after by the will of God they set downe in their writinges to be the ground and pillar of our faith and that in the canonicall scriptures of the olde and newe Testament we haue as Chrisostome aduoucheth vpon the second to the Corinthes Homilie 13. a most perfect and exact rule to followe set downe therefore with him and in his wordes immediately thereupon inferred I pray you all that you leaue that which seemeth good to this man or that Et de his Scripturis omma inquirite and of these Scriptures enquire all things that so we may all conclude with Damascene in this point in his first booke and first chapter de fide orthodoxa of sound faith all thinges that are deliuered by the lawe Prophets Apostles and Euangelistes Cognoscimus veneramur nihil vltrà perquirentes that is we acknowledge and reuerence seeking no further These things I haue the rather thus largely noted vnto you because notwithstanding the plain euidence of this vndoubted and ancient trueth our aduersaries the papistes are so farre off from yealding vnto the same that to discourage men from making this vse of the holy scriptures that so they may at their pleasures teach vs to build such a faith as seemeth good vnto them vpon their vnwritten word of God which

therefore it is the fashion of the scriptures after hard things to ioyne other that be plaine Origen also in his first Homilie of Hierimie and Chrysostome in diuers places namely writing of the holy Ghost and in his 12. Homtlie vpon Genesis are most pregnant in this point the one reiecting all sences and interpretations as of no credit without warrant from other scriptures and the other affirming plainely that the scriptures so expounde themselues that they suffer not the Reader to erre Whereupon no man no not amongst vs is more earnest to vrge all sortes of men to read the scriptures than Chrysostome as any man may see in his 9. Homilie vpon the Collossians in his third vpon Matthew Let vs therefore in this case take triall of this rule that so we may learne what we are to vnderstande by these riuers of water heere spoken of and promised And for as much as when these wordes were first vttered by Christ then the Canonicall scriptures onely of the olde Testament were written it shal be most fit to looke into them for this purpose Wherein to this end verie pertinent it is that the blessed man which doubtlesse he is that commeth vnto Christ and drinketh of him aright is described in the first Psalme to be like a tree planted by the riuers of waters that will bring forth his fruite in due season and whose leafe shall not fade but whatsoeuer he doth it shall prosper Vers 3. But that in the fiue and fiftie of the prophesie of Esay vers 1. c. in my iudgement and in my opinion best agreeth with this and appertaineth hereunto For there after that the thirsty are solemnly as it were by way of proclamation called and allured to come to the waters and so freely being come to drinke wine and to cate milke and that which was fatte and good a promise is made them if they would so do that they should liue and enioy the sure mercies of Dauid That also Esay 59.20.21 may well be as a Commentarie vpon this where after that it is said that the redeemer shall come vnto Sion it is saide that this couenant shal be made with them that turne from iniquitie in Iacob that his spirite and word shoulde neuer departe from them nor from their seede after them which couenante or promise is more fully opened Ieremie 31.33.34 vnto which time of the comming of the Messiah and the performance of this promise then Ioell hauing an eye he bringeth in GOD promising then that he woulde poure out his spirite vpon all sortes olde and yong men and women Cap. 2. vers 28. whereunto in my opinion it seemeth that Iohn thought that Christ had relation in this promise-making heere in that in plaine termes he telleth vs that this he spake of the Spirite which they should receiue that beleeued in him for saith he the holy Ghost was not yet bycause that Iesus was not yet glorified This therefore is euen sufficient to teach vs in what sence the scripture woulde haue vs to vnderstand that riuers of waters of life shall flowe out of the bellies of such as will come vnto him drinke of him and beleeue in him as we haue heard namely euen of the plentifull giftes and graces of the spirite that vndoubtedly he woulde bestowe and continue in such And let it not seeme strange vnto any man thus to heare the spirite of God watering and moystening the house of God and washing and softning the heartes of those that be in neede therof compared vnto waters for it is very vsuall in the scriptures For not onely Psal 1.3 Esay 55.1 c. as I haue noted before by riuers of water waters we cā vnderstād nothing so fitly as the most plentifull rich graces of God in Christ but also elsewhere often both in the olde Testament and in the new the same or like speeches are vsed whereby we can vnderstand nothing else For after that God to perswade Iacob not to feare had said I will powre water vpon the thirstie and floudes vpon the drie ground to make it plaine that he vnderstoode nothing else thereby immmediatly he addeth I will powre out my spirite vpon thy seede and my blessing vpon thy buddes and they shall growe as amongest the grasse and as the willowes by the riuers of waters Esay 44.2.3.4 And what else could or did Ezechiell vnderstande Cap. 47.1 c. by the vision of waters flowing out of the Lordes house in such a plentifull manner that they were first ancle deepe then thigh deepe then vnpassageable on euerie side whereof growe all fruitfull trees whose leafe shoulde not fall and that monethly should bring forth fruite and that wholesome and medicinable And we beleeuing as we doe that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne as both the scriptures and all sound confessions of the Catholicke and Christian faith teach what can we more fitly vnderstand by that pure riuer of water of life cleare as chryst all that Iohn saw proceeding out of the throne of God the Lambe c. Reuel 22. Vers 1. than the holy Ghost proceeding and flowing from the father and the sonne to cheere and to make fruitful the Citizens of the heauenly Hierusalem And by that water of life which Christ taught the woman of Samaria to aske of him whereof if a man drinke he saide he should neuer thirst againe for that it should be in him a well of water springing vp to euerlasting life noe doubt of it he vnderstoode nothing else but the Spirit which he would bestow vpon all his to regenerate and sanctifie them effectually withall Hereby then you may see not only this interpretation iustified that by riuers of water of life flowing out of the bellies of such as come vnto Christ and rightly make him their owne by drinking of him we are to vnderstand the Spirit of God and the plentifull graces thereof promised to the faithfull but also that this is a Metaphore very fit apt to expresse the same or else that God woulde neuer haue so much delighted therein as thus by the often vsing it he sheweth he hath done Howbeit before we proceede any further to confider of the ground why this Metaphor should be counted so apt and so much to this purpose delighted in we are first to vnderst and that by the belly frō whence these riuers of water of life shoulde flowe is meant the soule heart and good conscience by faith purified in the beleeuers Actes 15. Ver. 9. For the end of the commaundement and so the shew of all the good fruites of the Spirit in Gods children commeth from a pure conscience and both them from faith vnfained as Paule testifieth 1. Tim. 1. Ver. 5. The bellie and bowels are no seate or fountaine from whence such things issue or flowe Then whereas Iohn saith the holy Ghost was not yet whereof he telleth vs we are to vnderstande Christes promises we must take heede