Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	bishop_n	church_n	pastor_n	3,273	5	9.0845	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07845	The golden ballance of tryall VVherein the reader shall plainly and briefely behold, as in a glasse of crystall; aswell by what rule all controuersies in religion, are to be examined, as also who is, and of right ought to be the vpright iudge in that behalfe. Whereunto is also annexed a counterblast against a masked companion, terming himself E.O. but supposed to be Robert Parsons the trayterous Iesuite.	Bell, Thomas, fl. 1593-1610.	1603 (1603)	STC 1822; ESTC S120918	58,889	126

Chapter hoping by Gods grace to vse such perspicuitie in handling this difficult question as shal bee to the contentment of all indifferent Readers CAP. VIII Shewing who is the right Iudge of the holy Scripture and word of God ALbeit the holy Scripture be the infallible rule of Faith and the true Touchstone by which all doctrines are bee examined and tryed as is already proued yet will controuersies neuer haue a peaceable end vnles some speciall iudges bee appointed to decide and determine the same For as the old Prouerbe saith So many heads so many wittes Out of one and the selfe same Scripture one man gathereth one sense an other man an other sense For the perspicuous vnderstanding wherof I put downe these Paragraffes The first Paragraffe The examination of doctrine is of two sortes the one is priuate the other is publike Priuate examination is that vpon which euery man doth build and stablish his owne faith For as the Prophet sayeth The iust man shall liue by his faith And as the great Popish Doctor Aquinas writeth the former obiect of our faith or that which wee formally belieue is God himselfe or that which God hath reuealed to vs and not that which man telleth vs. For sayeth hee faith doth not yeelde assent to any thing but because it is reuealed of God The publike examination of doctrine pertayneth to the common consent of the Church for the peaceable gouernance thereof For GOD is not the Author of confusion but of peace The Second Paragraffe As the examination of doctrine is of two sorts so are the examiners and the iudges of two sortes also that is to say publike and priuate The Publike iudges are all the Ministers of the Church by what name or title soeuer they bee called The priuate Iudges are all the faithfull seuerally by themselues in all matters pertayning to Faith and the saluation of their owne soules That all the faithfull are priuate Iudges it may be easily proued by many textes of holy writte First by this text of S. Iohn beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits if they bee of God Secondly by this text of S. Paule trie all thinges and keepe that which is good Thirdly by this text of the same Apostle the spirituall man iudgeth all thinges These texts the two famous Papistes Nicholaus de Lyra and Dionysius Carthusianns expounde of thinges pertayning to saluation which say they all the faithfull are able to trie And which is to bee wondred at the Iesuite Bellarmine vnawares confesseth the same These are his expresse wordes Duo vel tres congregati in nomine Christi obtinent semper quod petunt a Deo nimirum sapientiam lumen quod sufficit eis ad cognoscenda ea quae ipsis necessaria sunt Sequitur itaque siue pauci siue multi siue priuati siue Episcopi congregentur in nomine Christi omnes habent Christum praesentem adiuuantem obtinent quod eis conuenit obtinere Two or three gathered together in the name of Christ do at all times obtaine that of God which they desire at his handes to witte Wisedome and vnderstanding which is sufficient for them to know those thinges which are necessarie for them Therefore whether fewe or many whether Priuate persons or Bishoppes bee gathered in the name of Christ they all haue Christes presence they all haue Christes helpe they all obtayne that which is meete and conuenient for them Thus sayeth our Iesuite And doubtlesse it is meete for euery one to know all thinges necessary for his saluation it can not be denied Out of these wordes I note first that whosoeuer are gathered together in Christes name they all obtayne of GOD so much vnderstanding and knowledge as is necessarie for Saluation I note secondly that God is as well present in the assemblie of priuate men as in the Synode of Bishoppes I note thirdly that God helpeth priuate men and is present with them at all times euen as hee is with Bishops Whereupon I must needes inferre that the thinges concluded by secular persons in their assemblies for matters pertayning to their soules health doe no lesse proceed from GOD then doe the Decrees of Bishoppes And consequently the Iesuite will hee nill hee must perforce confesse that priuate secular and meere Lay-men can and may iudge in matters of Religion in matters of Faith in matters concerning their own soules health And all this is nothing else in deed but euen that which Christ himselfe hath plainly taught vs. Where two or three sayth Christ are gathered togither in my name there am I'in the midst of them I proue the same doctrine because Christs sheepe as Christ the great sheepheard telleth vs know his voyce and follow him but will not follow a straunger This place doubtlesse doth conuince For if the sheepe know the voice of the sheepheard as Christ saith they do then must the sheepe perforce iudge of the voice of the sheepheard For otherwise it will follow that a man cannot discerne that which hee knoweth Melchior Canus faith plainly that the holy Ghost teacheth euery one all things necessarie to saluation This veritie is confirmed by an other testimonie of our Lord Iesus if any man sayth he will do his will the will of God hee shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speake of my selfe Loe the knowledge of Gods word proceedeth from the doing of his will But the doing of Gods will pertaineth to all both great and small as well to priuate lay-men as to ecclesiastical persons though they be the Bishops of Rome And for this cause sayth the great Papist Panormitan his words you may reade in the sixt chapter of this discourse that the iudgement of a meere lay-man must be preferred before the iudgement of the Pope if that priuate lay-man haue better reasons gathered out of the old and new Testament then are the reasons of the Pope See the aunswere to the Obiection in the fourth Paragraffe and note it will To conclude holy Writ telleth vs that the Bereans did search the Scriptures to see if they were according to Saint Paules doctrine And let this suffice for the iudgement of priuat persons and meerlay-men Now that all ministers Archbishops Bishops and other pastors of the Church may iudge of the sense of the holy Scripture it is a thing so cleare and manifest as little or nothing need be said thereof For Saint Paule saith that Bishops by which worde he vnderstandeth all the Ministers of the Church must haue great care that false doctrine be not taught This the Papists freely graunt of Bishops denying the same in other inferior ministers of the Church But I will proue the assertion to be verified of all ministers in generall First because Saint Paul committeth the gouernment of the church to al the ministers in differently calling them Bishops that is ouerseers of the

praedicatoribus eorū non contrariis legi Mosi Mali. N. à presidentibus ebeniendum est quandiu non docent nec iubent contraria Deo This must not be vnderstoode absolutely and vniuersally because the Scribes and Pharisies taught many superstitious and false things corrupting the Scriptures and making frustrate the worde of God with their traditions We must therfore vnderstand it of their Preachers which teach nothing contrarie to the law of Moyses For we must obey euill rulers so long as they neither teach nor command against God See more hereof and to this effect in the answere to the next obiection The third Obiection God commaunded to obey the Priests and not to swarue in any one iote from their doctrine by turning either to the right hand or to the left And it wil not serue to say that this must be done so long as they teach the truth for the text saith plainly Indicabunt tibi iudicii veritatem They shall shew thee the veritie of iudgement that is they shall not erre The Answere I say first that the Priests of the law of Moses both might erre and did erre de facto as is alreadie proued of the Scribes and Pharisies For they were not onely wicked men in life and conuersation but they also seduced the people taught false doctrine and corrupted the pure worde of God Which point because it is a thing of verie great importance I will indeuour my selfe by Gods helpe to make it plaine vnto the Reader And because nothing is or can be of greater force agaynst the Papists then to confute their doctrine by the testimonie of their owne approued Doctors I will as my wonted maner is euer alledge the expresse wordes of the best approued Papists who were euer most deare vnto the Pope wishing the Reader to markewell my answer made alreadie to the obiection next afore going The wordes of the great papists Lyra and Carthusianus alreadie alledged might sufficiently satisfie any indifferent reader but that nothing may bee wanting I wil adde their wordes more abundantly Lyra hath these wordes Vae vobis Scribae hic ostendit qualiter corrumpebant veritatē doctrinae in his quae pertinent ad salutem Dicebant n● quod obseruare legem erat necessarium omnibus ad salutem quod est falsum quia multi gentiles sunt saluati vt Iob plures alii Ex suppositione autem huius falsi discurrebant aliqui in doctores Hebraei per diuersas ciuitates castra vt possent conuertere aliquos de gentilitate ad Iudaismum Et hoc est quod dicitur qui c. Wo to you Scribes Here he sheweth how they did corrupt the truth of doctrine euen in those things which pertaine to saluation For they said that the keeping of the law was necessarie for all men vnto saluation which is false because many Gentiles are saued as Iob and sundrie others Of this false supposition some Hebrew Doctors did wander through diuerse Cities Townes that so they might conuert some from Gentilitie to Iudaisme And therefore doth the Gospell say wo vnto you Scribes and Pharisies hypocrites for ye compasse sea and land to make one of your profession and when he is made ye make him two folde more the childe of hell then you your selues are Againe the same Lyra sayth thus Vae vobis duces caeci Hic consequenter ostendit qualiter corrumpebant veritatem doctrinae in his quae pertinent ad actum latriae Cuius actus est iurare modo debito iur amentum obser uare Pharisaei n. Scribae ex cupiditate moti dicebant quod illi qui iurabant per Templum Dei nec peccabant nec erant in aliquo obligati sed illi qui iurabant per aurum Templi erant obligati ad soluendum Sacerdotibus certam portionem auri Wo vnto you blind guides Here he sheweth cōsequently how they corrupted the veritie of doctrine in those things which pertain to the pure worship of God The act whereof is to sweare after a due maner and to performe the oath For the Scribes and Pharisies moued with couetousnesse said that they which did sweare by the temple of God neither sinned neither were bound to doe any thing but they that did sweare by the gold of the Temple were bound to giue some portion of gold to the Priests Dionysius Carthusianus hath these wordes Non sinitis intrare Quia falsa doctrina prauis exemplis peruertitis eos Sequitur qui dicitis quicunque iurauerit per Templum nihil est Id est soluere non tenetur si peieret non erit criminis reus You do not suffer them to come in For you peruert them with false doctrine and euill example You say who so euer sweareth by the Temple it is nothing That is to say he is not bound to keepe his oath and if hee bee forsworne he shall not be guiltie of any crime Thus we see or may see if we be not blind that by the iudgement of these great Papists the Bishops and Priests of the olde law did not onely scandalize the people with their wicked life but also taught false doctrine and corrupted the holy Scripture I say secondly that the verie wordes of the law if we marke them well doe plainly expresse the true meaning thereof To wit that wee must then obey the Priests when they teach according to Gods lawe and not when they wrest and corrupt Gods word The wordes are these Et facies quodcunque dixerint qui praesunt loco quem elegerit Dominus docuerint te iuxta legem eius And thou shalt doe whatsoeuer they shall say which are ouer that place which the Lord hath chosen and shall teach thee according to his law Lo this cōdition is required that the priests do teach Gods law See S. Hieroms words in the answere to the fourth Obiection The Replie The wordes import no condition but a meere assertion and promise that they shall not erre so saith the Prophet Malach Labia sacerdotis custodient scientiam legem requirent ex ore eius The Priests lippes shall keepe knowledge and they shall seeke the law at his mouth The Answere I answere that the wordes in Deuteronomie do import a conditionall precept The precept is continued in these wordes Qui praesunt loco which are set ouer that place The condition is imploied in these words Et docuerint and shall teach according to the law The words in Malachie import a flat commandement of that which the Priests ought to do but no promise that they shall doe and performe the same Which thing I will proue many wayes First by the wordes of the verie texts then by the testimonie of Saint Herome thirdly by the exposition of great learned Papists Touching the wordes in Malachie the sense appeareth euidently in the wordes which follow immediatly which are these Vos autē recessistisde via scādalizastis plurimos in lege