Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	church_n	divine_a	tradition_n	5,425	5	9.4683	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01281	Englands sicknes, comparatively conferred with Israels Diuided into two sermons, by Tho: Adams.	Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653.	1615 (1615)	STC 114; ESTC S100411	68,934	100

still an outward faire shew and tincture of golde They demand where was the golde demonstrate the place I answere in that Masse But for the extracting therof and purifying it from drosse God hath giuen vs the true touchstone his sacred Word which can onely manifest the true Church and withall reuerend Bishops and worthy Ministers that haue beene instruments to refine purge it from the drosse of superstitions foule ceremonies and iugling inuentions The Papists brag themselues the true ancient Church and taxe ours of nouelty of heresie But wee iustly tell them that Eccles●●enomen tenent contra Ecclesiam dimicant that they vsurpe the name of the Church yet persecute it For the truth of our Church wee appeale to the Scriptures Nolo humanis documentis sed diuinis oraculis sanctam Ecclesiam demonstrari It is fit the holy Church should be proued rather by diuine oracles then humane precepts or traditions We stand not vpon numbers which yet wee blesse God are not small but vpon truth You see as the Church of the Iewes so any particular Church may be sicke inwardly To describe these internall diseases I will limite them into 4. 1 Error indeed Heresie cannot possesse a Church but it giues a subuersion to it Errare possum Hereticus esse non Possum sayth that Father I may erre an heretike I cannot be Now Quic quid contra veritatem sapit heresis est etiam vetus consuctudo What is diametrally opposed against the Truth is heresie yea though it be an ancient and long receiued custome But Logicke which is a reasonable discourse of things shewes a great difference betweene diuersae and contraria A Church may bee sicke of errour and yet liue but heresie a wilfull errour against the fundamentall truth violently prosecuted and persisted in kils it Therefore Haeresis potius mors quam morbus Heresie is rather death then sickenesse When the truth of doctrine or rather doctrine of truth hath beene turned to the falshood of Heresie God hath remoued their Candlesticke turned their light into darkenes Error may make it sicke but so that it may be cured The Churches of Corinth Galatia Pergamus had these sicknesses the holy Ghost by Paul and Iohn prescribeth their cures If they had been dead what needed any direction of Physicke If they had not beene sicke to what tended the prescription of their remedy To God alone and to his maiesticall word bee the impossibility of erring That Church that man shall in this erre palpably that will challenge an immunity whosoeuer thinkes he cannot erre doth in this very perswasion erre extreamely I know there is a man on earth a man of earth to say no more that challengeth this priuiledge Let him proue it Giue him a term ad exhibendum and then for want of witnesse ho may write Teste meipso as Kinges doe Witnesse our selfe c. Nay aske his Cardinals Fryers Iesuites This is somewhat to the Prouerbe Aske the son● if the Father be a thiefe But hee cannot erre in his definitiue sentence of Religion Then belike hee hath one spirite in his consistory and another at home and it may in some sort be said of him as Salust of Cicero Al●●d stan● aliud sedens de Republica loquitur He is of one opinion sitting of another standing Let God bee true but euerie man a lier One of their owne said Omnis homo errare potest in side etiamsi Papa sit Any man may erre in faith yea though hee were the Pope If they will haue Rome a sanctuary let them take along with them Petrarcha's catachresicall speech calling it a Sanctuary of Errors What particular Church then may not erre now can it erre and be sound Bee the errour small yet the ache of a finger keepes the body from perfect health The greater it is the more dangerous Especially 1. either when it possesseth a vitall part and affecteth infecteth the Rulers of the Church It is ill for the feet when the Head is giddy 2. or when it is infectious and spreading violently communicated from one to another 3. or when it carries a colour of truth The most dangerous vice is that which beares the countenance and weares the cloake of vertue 4. or when it is fitted to the humor and seasoned to the rellish of the people Sedition affectation popularity couetousnesse are enough to driue an errour to an heresie So the disease may proue a Gangrene and then enserecidendum ne pars sinceratrabatur no meanes can saue the whole but cutting off the incurable part Pereat vnus potius quam vnitas 2 Ignorance is a sore sicknesse in a Church whether it bee in the superiour or subordinate members Especially when the Priests lippes preserue not knowledge Ill goes is with the body when the 〈◊〉 are blind Deuotion without instruction often windes it selfe into superstition When learnings head is kept vnder Auarices girdle the land growes sicke Experience hath made this conclusion too manifest Our fore-fathers felt the terrour and tyranny of this affliction who had golden Challices and wodden Priests that had either no Art or no hart to teach the people Sing not thou Romane Syr●n that Ignorance is the damme of deuotion to breed it it is rather a damme to stifle restraine and choke it vp Blindnesse is plausible to please men not possible to please God Grant that our faults in the light are more hainous then theirs who wanted true knowledge Ex furibus enim leges eos grauius puniunt qui interdiù furantur For the lawes doe punish those theeues most seuerely that feare not euen by day to commit outrages Yet in all reason their sinnes did exceede in number who knew not when they went awry or what was amisle Rome hath by a strange and incredible kinde of doctrine gone about to proue that the health which is indeede the sicknesse of a Church Ignorance Their Cardinal Cusaen faith that Obedientia irrationalis est consummata obedientia perfectissima c. Ignorant obedience wanting reason is the most absolute and perfect obedience Chrysostome giues the reason why they so oppose themselues against reason Haeretici sacerdotes Claudunt ianuas veritatis c. Hereticall Priestes shut vp the gates of Truth For they know that vpon the manifestation of the Truth their Church would be soone forsaken If the light which maketh all things plaine should shine out Tunc hi qui prius decipiebant nequaqua● ad populum accodere valebunt post quam se senserint intellectos then they who before cosoned the people could preserue their credits no longer being now smelt out and espied Hence the people aime at Christ but either short or gone and not with a iust Ieuell But Nemo de Christo credat nisi quod Chr●stus de se credi voluit Let no man beleeue other thing of Christ then what Christ would haue beleeued of himselfe Non minus est

pleading of it But in vain doth the beggars sonne boast himselfe of the bloud royall or the wicked soule of partaking the diuine nature when hee cannot demonstrate his adoption by his sanctification So that as we giue comfort to them that except themselues so terror to them that accept themselues when God doth not make sure to thy soule that thou art once Gods and my life for thine thou shalt euer be his Lastly from this titular phrase obserue that the daughter of Ierusalem is our mother Ierusalem which is aboue is free which is the mother of vs all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy Church is our mother if the most holy God be our Father She feedes vs with sincere milke from her two breastes the scriptures of both the Testaments those Oracles which God hath committed to her keeping God doth beget vs of unmortallseed by the word which liueth and abideth for euer but not without the wombe of the Church Non enim nascimur ●edrenascimur Christian● wee are not Christians by our first but by our second birth Neither is she the mother of all but vs all whom God hath chosen before all time and called in time to himselfe Qui sic sunt in dom● Dei vt ipsi sint dom●s Dei who are so in the House of God that themselues are the house of God He that ouercommeth I will write vpon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is now Ierusalem that commeth out of heauen from my God So that à quo dominatio ab ●o denominatio our name is giuen vs according to her name that cherisheth and is Mother vnto vs. Hence euery beleeuing soule is a daughter of Ierusalem and a spouse of Christ. Anima credentis est sponsaredimentis The soule of him that beleeues is the spouse of him that saues As a multitude is but a heape of vnites so the Church is a congregation of Saints And as that which belongs to the body belongs to euery member so the priuiledges of our mother Ierusalem are the prerogatiues of all her children not onely the daughter of Sion her selfe but euery daughter of hers euery faithfull soule ' is a pure virgin and so to be presented to Iesus Christ. As Paul to his particular Church of Corinth I am iealous ouer you with a godly iealousie for I haue espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ. Mans soule is of an excellent nature and like a beautious damsel hath many Sutours 1. First the Deuill who comes like an old dotard neatly tricked and licked vp his wrinckled hide smoothed and sleeked with tentations he comes euer masqu'd and dares not shew his face Take away his vizour and the soule is worse then a witch that can affect him And as when hee temptes wretched Sorceresses to some reall couenant with him hee assumes the forme of familiar and vnfeared creatures left in a horrid and strange shape they should not endure him So in his spirituall circumuentions for the more facile flie and suspect●esse insinuation into mortall hearts Hee transformes himselfe into an Angell of light The promises of this Sutour are large and faire hee offers the soule if it will bee his spouse a greater Ioynture Iudas shall haue money Esau pleasures Naball plenty Christ himselfe shall bee ioyntu●'d in many kingdoms but euer hee indents that wee must loue him and ioyne with him in marriage Doeg shall haue a place in the court so he will maligne Gods Priests Pilate shall be Iudge so he will ply his vsury hard The Proctor shall bee made an Eccle●asticall Iudge if he will promise more conuiuence then conscience and suffer Master bribery to giue the censure Euery Bal●am shall be promoted that is readier to curse then blesse the people These things to the wicked doth Sathan forme in speculation though not performe in action Hee is an ill wooer that wanteth wordes Heare his voyce and see not his face belieue his promises and consider him not as a lyer as a murderer and he will goe neere to carry thy hart from all But he that hath two infirmities nay enormities that betray him a stinking breath and a halting foot 1 For his breath though it smell of sulphure and the hote steame of sinne and hell yet hee hath art to sweeten it So hee can rellish couetice with thrift●nes voluptuousnes with good diet idlenes with good quiet drunkennes because it is very sowre fulsome and odious ●u●n to nature and reason shall be season'd sweeten'd with good fellowship Malice is the argument of a noble Spirit and murder the maintenance of reputation Lust is the direction of nature and swearing a gracefull testimony to the truth of our speeches With such luscious confections he labours to conserue his lungs from stinking If it were not for those mists and shadowes sinne would want both fautors and factors 2 But his lame foot cannot bee hidden as they once foolishly fabled among the vulgar that his clouen foote could not bee changed for his disobedience is manifest If hee saith Steale and God saieth Thou shalt not steale Sweare when God saith Sweare not dissemble when hee cries Woe against hypocrites bee an vsurer when God sayeth thou shalt not then dwell in my glory what pretences soeuer glosse his Text his lamenesse cannot bee hidden All his pollicy cannot deuise a boot to keepe him from this halting This is the first worst Sutour 2 The World comes in like a blustering Captaine with more nations on his backe then crownes in his purse or at least vertues in his conscience This wooer is handsomely breasted but ill backed better to meete then to follow for hee is all vanity before all vexation behind by the witnesse of him that tried and knew him Sometimes trouble followes him but surely followes him The desire of money is the roote of all euill which while sons coueted after they haue erred from the faith and pierced themselues through with many sorrowes Hee is like a Bee or an Epigram all his sting is in his tayle Hee is troubled with a thousand diseases and is attended on with more plagues then euer was Galens study He is now growne exceeding olde and hath but a few minutes to liue Hee is decayed both in stature and nature especially hee is troubled with a stooping and a stopping a stooping in his ioynts a stopping in his lungs He neither hath an vpright face nor a light heart 1 For the former hee is euer poring on the earth as if he had no other heauen or were set to digge there for Paradise His eye neuer lookes vp to heauen but to obserue what weather it will be This is his curuitie hee is a warped aged and decrepite Sutour There is no straightnes in him 2 For the other hee cannot be lightsome because hee neuer did giue good conscience one