Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
scripture_n contain_v necessary_a tradition_n 2,842 5 9.0627 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A64558 Remarks on the preface to The Protestant reconciler in a letter to a friend. S. T. (Samuel Thomas), 1627-1693. 1683 (1683) Wing T974; ESTC R25646 26,707 64

There are 2 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

Worshipping of his Divine Majesty and whatsoever was necessary to Salvation therefore in these things he is only to be heard as our School-Master But because in outward Discipline and Ceremony his Will was not to prescribe each thing particularly what we ought to follow because he foresaw this to hang upon the state of Times and did not think one Form to be sit for all Ages herein we must flee to those general Rules which he hath given that thereby all those things should be tryed which the necessity of the Church shall require to be Commanded for Order and Comeliness Finally forasmuch as he hath therefore taught nothing expresly because these things are not necessary to Salvation and according to the Manners of every Nation and Age ought diversly to be applyed to the Edifying of the Church therefore as the Profit of the Church shall require it shall be convenient as well to Change and Abrogate those that be used as to institute New I grant indeed that we ought not rashly nor oft nor for light Causes to run to Innovation but what may hurt or edifie Charity shall best judge which if we suffer to be the Governess all shall be safe Now it is the duty of Christian People to keep such things as have been ordain'd according to this Rule with a free Conscience and without any superstition but yet with a godly and easie readiness to obey not to despise them nor to pass them over with careless negligence so far is it off that they ought by Pride and Obstinacy openly to break them What manner of Liberty of Conscience wilt thou say may there be in so great Observation and Wariness Yes it shall stand excellently well when we shall consider that they are not stedfast and perpetual stayed Laws whereunto we are bound but outward rudiments for the weakness of men which though we do not all need yet we do all use them because we are mutually bound to one another to nourish Charity among us Thus says Dr. Hooke Mr. Calvin delivers his judgment directly contrary to yours meaning Mr. Baxter's as expressed in that Petition for Peace I add and directly contrary to that which our Prefacer here quotes as his shrew'd Argumentation but perfectly consentient to the Church of England and we find his practice according with his judgment he put the Yoke of Discipline upon the Neck of the Senate and People of Geneva and bound them to it with an Oath and he declares for a Form of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites from which it may not be lawful for the Pastors to depart in their Function You see hereby how far Calvin was from the Opinion That Churches either should be govern'd without Ceremonies or indeed can be govern'd if nothing be imposed on their Members but what is necessary I know 't is easie to dictate as some men are said to do in this Preface That all necessary things are so plain in Scripture that men may soon agree in what is necessary and conclude the no-necessity of agreeing in more pag. 12. That all things necessary to be believed are done in order to acceptance with God are fully and perspicuously contained in Holy Scripture and therefore 't is unreasonable to exact further of our Brethren that which is confessed unnecessary and which neither our Saviour nor his Apostles imposed on their Disciples pag. 46. That necessary points pag. 20. may and will by all honest people be known and determin'd by the clear Testimony of Scripture by consent of Fathers by general Tradition As if all honest People could find out the consent of Fathers or be so familiarly acquainted with general Tradition and other points need not to be determined That all Confessions of particular Churches should be abolished pag. 53. and one publick Symbol agreed on which should be expressed only in the words of Scripture and want nothing which is necessary to Salvation to be known or done nor contain any thing which is not thus necessary to Salvation and in unnecessaries there should be a mutual bearing one with another That consent in Fundamentals ought to be carefully maintain'd but in other things neglected pag. 55. That there should be nothing in our Ecclesiastical Constitutions that may give any plausible pretence for Separation or Nonconformity pag. 21. Now these I confess are several of them very sine Aerial Speculations such as is no very difficult thing for Mercurial Wits to light on and 't is as easie for any Melancholy Contemplative Man to warm his Brains into a conceit of their Truth Worth and Excellency But loquere ut videam I would fain see the Man that either has prov'd them or can prove them to be Practicable Notions I mean such as may be prudently applyed to the constituting or continuing of Societies or to the maintaining of a publick consent or a common order and decorum among ' em It may be a great Truth that all things necessary to Salvation are plainly and clearly revealed in Scripture but that they are all so plain that all may soon agree in what is necessary or that all honest People may know and determin all such points or that only such should be agreed in and enjoyn'd I shall conclude to be very unpracticable Notions till this Gentleman or somebody for him can tell me First What Person or Persons have so much as pretended to give an exact List and Catalogue in particular of all those Fundamentals which in general we profess to Believe plainly contain'd in Scripture 2. Where that Society of Christians is to be met with which is govern'd only by union and consent in things absolutely necessary Or 3. where that Protestant Church is to be found where nothing of Ceremony is imposed either for Order Decency or Uniformity If no such instance can be produc'd 't is a pregnant evidence that such Theories and Principles are inflexible to the measure and ends of Government incompatible with the duty of Governours and with the necessities of the Persons and Societies that are to be govern'd and therefore they seem calculated only for the Meridian of Vtopia or Cracovia and may serve indifferently for all Latitudinarian Regions and Anarchical Routs You see Sir by this Packet how great a trouble your generosity in sending me The Protestant Reconciler has drawn upon you no less than that of reading several Sheets of Animadversions on the Preface but you may comfort your self with believing that your Trouble will end here as mine does For having not my own Books by me scarce any of them I mean that might be serviceable for such a purpose 't will be a vanity for me to attempt the Confutation of the Prefacer's Book especially since he has been pleas'd to interess Dr. Womock a much more considerable Person and still living I hope in the Contents of it insomuch that if he shall think fit to make any Reply to him his Book will I believe neither require nor deserve any other or better Confutation than will result from that Defence It was but the beginning of this Month that I receiv'd it from your kindness and having since spent all this pains about the Preface you cannot imagine I have so much as read the Book But however I have so far consider'd the Contents of its Chapters and glanced upon so many parts of the Book that I conjecture the main stress and turn of the Cause lies in the fourth Chapter which therefore whosoever solidly Answers will effectually baffle the design of this Writer and may let the rest of the Book take its course and permit the weak Brethren to make the best Advantage they can of it When you have perused these Papers I hope you will impartially communicate your sense of them to Your Cordial Friend and Humble Servant S. T. Febr. 28. 1682 3.
REMARKS ON THE PREFACE TO THE Protestant Reconciler IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND LONDON Printed by J. Wallis for Joanna Brome at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-yard 1683. SIR HAving Read and Consider'd the Preface to The Protestant Reconciler I now send you these Remarks upon it The Author professes Pag. 58. of that Preface That he does from his heart Conform to all that is requir'd by the Church of England and yet a great part of the Preface is employ'd in producing Testimonies against the Lawfulness not only of the Imposition it self but also of the things Impos'd we are told p. 25. out of Beza's Epistle to Bishop Grindal That Men so oft do grievously Sin as they do introduce into the Church of God any Ceremonies significative of Spiritual things and that all Symbolical Rites should be entirely excluded from the Christian Church And this forsooth must have a Hand set over against it in the margin as if it ought to be taken for some very precious and valuable Truth We are told also by the same Divine p. 26. That the Right of Crossing is not to be reckon'd among things Indifferent but as a thing rather to be destroyed than the brazen Serpent of Hezekias That they do best of all who are as diligent in the Abolishing the Rites of Crossing in Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament as they would be in Abolishing open Idolatry And this also is thought fit to be Printed in another Character and to be mark'd out with a marginal Hand as if 't were a Maxim of Infallible Truth A great many other Reproaches of our Ceremonies and their Imposition are transcribed into the following Pages as p. 27. That the Imposing our English Ceremonies is a falling back to worse than the Ceremonies of Moses to the Trifles and Refuse of human Traditions That Queen Elizabeth was carry'd with a Zeal not according to Knowledge in Commanding the Vse of them Pag. 28. And that by that Imposition the Fire of Contention was to the incredible offence of the Godly as it were raised from Hell That the white Linen Garments requir'd to be Vsed in Divine Service are at the least signs of Idolatry and Popish Superstition with the Vse whereof Ministers defile themselves and give offence to the Weak by their Example That to retain those Garments is to destroy the whole Body of the Church That they ought not be Imposed Pag. 30. because all things are to be abandon'd which may any way either by themselves or by accident desile Gods Worship because they are contrary to the Purity of the Apostolical Worship and smell of Popish Superstion and are neither available to the Edification of the Godly nor to Order nor for Ornament except that which is Whorish Because all Godly men will be offended with the Decree concerning Apparel And it may much further Vngodliness and at least give occasion of many Evils and very grievous Superstitions and the very Occasions of Evils are to be shun'd because 't is God's Will p. 31. That after the Death of Christ all Garments of Aaron and Levi should be Abolish'd That the Lord himself Commanded that all Vngodly and Vain Ceremonies should be driven away when he charg'd utterly to destroy all things which appertain'd to those who should give Counsel to follow strange Gods and to burn their Garments and all their Stuff with Fire that they might be an execrable thing unto the Lord. Because the Imposing them ministers Offence to the Consciences of Weak Believers which to do is very grievous and distastful to the Holy Spirit and that Paul's Example of resolving always to abstain from Flesh rather than offend his Brother gives a general Rule taken out of the Doctrin of Christ viz. That no Indifferent thing is to be admitted and yielded to much less to be Vrg'd upon others and least of all to be Commanded by Decree if in the Admitting Vrging and Commanding of it the Minds of Good Men and Consciences of the Faithful be Offended Now this Prefacer did either look upon these kind of paultry Argumentations against our Ceremonies and their Imposition and these and a great many other Censorious Reproaches of them as Valid Arguings and Justifiable Reproaches or he did not if he did not to what end has he taken the Pains to Transcribe them unless he had a Fanatick Design of rendring our Church and State-Constitutions odious by so doing But if he does really judge them Valid and Justifiable he is a strange Man that can from his heart Conform to all that is required by the Church of England and yet imagine not only the imposing and requiring the Use of its Ceremonies to be both without and against the Command of God but also the things requir'd and impos'd to be some of them Signs of Idolatry and Popish Superstition that Ministers defile themselves with the use of them that they are only for Whorish Ornament and such as whereat the Minds of Good Men and the Consciences of the Faithful are Offended and that such things ought not for that very reason either to be Imposed or so much as Admitted or Yielded to Besides if he has Transcribed them as Reproaches in his own Opinion justifiable he has by quoting those Passages out of other Writings made them his own And he has too plainly done so in his re-capitulation p. 43. where he expresly Affirms That judicious Beza truly saith that these things viz. Ceremonies required by the Church of England are not only unnecessary but profitable for little if a Man use them aright And as if this were not Reproach enough this Prefacer has no more Wit nor Judgement than to Add and when they Accidentally do minister to Schisnt and all its fatal Consequences and then again to Approve it as truly said by Beza That to impose such Ceremonies is to labour about Hay and Stubble or rather things more vain than they And himself Affirms That sad Experience shews that they bring no Profit but many Evils to the Church and that 't is our Duty to shun the Occasion of those Evils By which Approbation of and Compliance with these Censures of things required and imposed in our Church I humbly conceive he has incurr'd the Penalty of Excommunication which is Decreed by Can. 4. against those who Affirm that the Form of Gods Worship in the Church of England Established by Law and Contained in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments is a Corrupt Superstitious or Vnlawful Worship of God or Containeth any thing in it that is repugnant to the Scriptures By Can. 6. against those Who Affirm that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by Law Established are Wicked Antichristian or Superstitious By Can. 10. Consequentially For that Canon Excommunicated those Separatists from the Church of England who take upon them the Name of another Church and presume to publish that this their pretended Church hath a long time Groaned under the Burden of