Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	faith_n	word_n	write_a	3,171	5	10.6412	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33462	Capel's remains being an useful appendix to his excellent Treatise of tentations, concerning the translations of the Holy Scriptures : left written with his own hand / by that incomparably learned and jucicious divine, Mr. Richard Capel, sometimes fellow of Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford ; with a preface prefixed, wherein is contained an abridgement of the authors life, by his friend Valentine Marshall.	Capel, Richard, 1586-1656.; Marshall, Valentine.; Capel, Richard, 1586-1656. Tentations.	1658 (1658)	Wing C471; ESTC R5922	60,793	168

a lamp Psal. 119. 105. See 2 Reg. 22. 16. and 23. 2 25. 6. If our hearts be so well be sprinkled with the blood of Christ See Heb. 9. 19. and Exod. 24. 7. 7. If we be so humbled under the sense of that body of death we have about us See how it was with Josiah 2 Chron. 34. 23 30. when his heart was touched with the wickednesse of the time He read and so shall we when we have a sense of the sinne that is in us This Man of God in this short but sweet and elaborate discourse that followes hath cleared the way daintily for poor plain Christians to build upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles in those Translations that God in his great mercy hath set before them Here 's the price put into * the hand where 's the heart to use it we can but call on men 'T is God must perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem. He was touching a little and but a little upon mans imperfections and upon the working of grace whilest it is here in this life and God took him to the place where the soules of the just are made perfect where grace is compleated in glory This brief and pithy piece hath lien longer upon mine hand then I am well-pleased with This I can say 1. It was written in his fast hand and so it was the longer work ere it could be pickt out perfectly by my selfe and some others that best knew his writing He was like * Bucer in this he his own selfe could not reade his own hand sometimes in a moneth after he had writ it 2. I have been letted by sicknesse much upon my selfe and some also in those that be near me besides some other urgent occasions 3. Not being cut out for work of this nature I had the more ado to satissie my selfe in this that 's let abroad such as it is at the last I have been more large by farre then I intended but 't is for a friend to whose memory I owe as much as Philemon did to Paul more then I can pay 2. 'T is for a man of men the Phoenix of his Age as 't was said of * Beza 3. Besides 't is all that I intend in this kinde to trouble the world withal God grant his blessing may attend it I remain Thine in Christ Jesus VAL MARSHALL Elmore May the 20. 1658. A Resolution of certaine Cases to cleare some doubts concerning my former Writings 1. Of the Scriptures IN all buildings the maine is to settle the Foundation First of all next to Christ the foundation is laid upon the Prophets and Apostles So Paul are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets meaning the foundation which the Apostles and Prophets laid Laid where In their doctrine contained in their Writings So Doctor John Rainolds the famous Hence that of Christ search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal life By which place it is put beyond all Queries and Question that the Scriptures are the foundation of Religion sith in them is said Ye think and ye think well in it to have eternal life So again ye erre saith Christ to the Sadd●ces not knowing the Scriptures And again Apollos shewed and convinced the Jewes publickly by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ and once more all Scripture is given by inspiration by the breath of God Now by Scripture is meant the Word of God written Written then Printed now by the way note and grant that written and printed come all to one written then printed now so then by Scriptures we meane the Word of God written Now here the first case is What ground there is that we should ground our selves on the Scriptures sith for a matter of two thousand years the Church was without Scripture and many went to heaven when there was before Moses no Scripture at all and the Christian Church was best and purest before the New Testament was written at all This was pleaded in the Councel of Trent to justle out the Scriptures and to place Traditions in the place of the Scriptures All this should not shake and totter the heart of a Christian Before Moses the Lord did teach by tradition without Scripture and the Church did by the providence of God walk by as certaine rules then as now For this they who will may see Dr. Abbot against Bishop Many Reasons are given why then the written word was not necessary as 't is now as that the Church was in families after it came to be all one Nation over now over all Nations As also that the Patriarchs then had a spirit we have not Anabaptists say they have an infallible spirit which Wotton calls a lewd opinion yet they say this as onely for themselves But sure the Patriarchs and the Church under the Patriarchs had a certain and infallible rule to walk by which was to them as the Scriptures are to us Their rule was the Word of God but not written ours is the same Word of God but written It is enough that the Law hath now tied us to the Word of God written And for the Apostles time the Apostles men immediately inspired being living and other infallible men not Apostles as Mark Luke there was no such necessity to have the Word of God written as there was after Wherefore they did provide for this ere they died and committed the Word of God to writing when there should be no such men to consult with Let us then sit down by the Scriptures the Word of God written as the onely sure card and rule to guide us in all matters of faith and life For if we leave this once there is nothing but Sea and Aire no place for this poor Dove this poore soul of ours to rest her foot without which when and where to stay none can tell That then we may not run from opinion to opinion from Christ to Christ from Church to church till we have run our selvs out of all our onely sure way is to flie to the Scriptures to the written VVord of God as to an Anchour that so we may have hope if hope then faith Before we go further we must take it as cleare that by Scriptures Christ and his Apostles do meane the VVord of God written Our enquiry is What written word Not the Original Copy for that was in the Ark and there onely and not to be seen of every body if of any body but the high Priest and I know nothing but those Tables perished with the Temple Nor can it be that when he did call upon them to search the Scriptures he did send them to the Ark which then was not I doubt not but he meant by the Scriptures the writings of Moses the Prophets Now who can think that Christ and his Apostles did turn over the Church and people of God to the Scriptures written by Moses and the

is to take us off from the Scriptures and to cast us and our consciences on the authority of the Church We list not to dispute with them about the Infallibility of that which they call their Church For I doubt not but that the learned among them do not themselves beleeve what themselves do write But our work lies not in that road We grant what they would have as touching the Church by way of Ministry but for that which they call the Churches Authority we know not any such authority the Church as Church being not a Domination but a Ministration But that we may not leave any rubb in the consciences of the weak as touching the authority of the Scriptures as touching the Originals and Translations we will shut up all in brief For the Originals though we have not the Primitive Copies written by the finger of God in the Tables or by Moses and the Prophets in the Hebrew or by the Apostles and the rest in the Greek for the New Testament yet we have Copies in both languages which Copies vary not from the Primitive writings in any matter which may stumble any This concernes onely the learned and they know that by consent of all parties the most learned on all sides amongst Christians do shake hands in this that God by his providence hath preserved them uncorrupt What if there be variety of readings in some Copies and some mistakes in writing or Printing this makes nothing against our doctrine sith for all this the fountaine runs clear and if the fountain be not clear all translations must needs be muddie Besides 't is a saying of a wise Philosopher That what some say is like to be false what many say may be false But what all say is more then like to be true Now Christians of all parties do agree as touching the Originals that they are kept pure Onely some of and among the Papists passionate men do bite at the Originals but herein they do but bl●t their own vulgar translation sith they confesse it to be drawn out of the Originals I confesse some men by their picking quarrels with the Originals as a matter whereof they talk as though there were no certainty of faith as touching them have troubled the spirits of some men with a thorny tentation which my b●sinesse is to do what I can to remove which I now endeavour to do as briefly as I can The foundation I first lay is That we may have a certainty moral of things whereof we have no evidence which is sufficient to settle us in an acquired faith free from all feare and material doubt of the contrary We beleeve without making any question of it that there is such a place as Rome though we never saw it that such a man is our father such a woman our mother and we out of conscience do duties to them albeit we have no evident certainty of it but by belief that such a Prince is true heir to a Crown and out of conscience we do performe obedience and yet we can have no more certainty of this but moral For who hath or can have an evidence of this that such an heire is the true begotten of such a King It 's agreed on by almost all Divines of all sides that if one of the Propositions be in the Scripture and the other be but a moral certainty which leaves no dubitation behinde it the conclusion bindes the conscience As thus every childe is bound in conscience to honour his Parents this is an act of faith grounded on the Scripture such or such a man is my father this is but a moral certainty yet hence it followes that in conscience I stand bound in conscience to honour such a man as my Father And that he is my Father all the certainty I can have is but moral built on the credit of my mother If these reasonings were not firme it would destroy all Policy and Order in this life nor could Gods Law to honour father and mother binde the conscience nor can a man tell that he was baptized in his youth but by such Testimonies as these Therefore I like that of Bellarmine who stands upon it that of such like things a certainty may be had from the testimonies of men in some sort comparable to natural evidence it self for that it leaves no scruple or dubitation in our minds But what of all this Why it shewes that the general consent of in a manner all Hebricians and Grecians in the Christian world consenting that our Originals are by the good hand of God preserved uncorrupt and pure is a sufficient perswasion to breed a moral certainty answerable to natural evidence excluding all reasonable dubitation to the contrary That the Originals were for the provision and food of the soules of his Church kept pure and uncorrupt by the Prophets and Jewes for the old by the Apostles and Christian Churches for the New Testament sealed up by St. John the Secretary of Christ as Scotus calls him Else the Lord must have been wanting to his Church which cannot be imagined And that acquired faith makes way for infused faith to act I have learned long since out of Scotus Thus the case stands The Originals are to be received and believed That the Hebrew and Greek are the true Originals we believe by humane testimonies which leave the mind without perplexitie without all doubting and so it follows that by mans testimonie the Originals are to be received and believed by us so that the heart stands free from any true cause of any doubting at all which being equivalent to the highest certainty that is it cannot but lay a foundation to build our faith upon this certainty being a meanes by which we come to the other of the Scriptures being the last ground on which we build our faith we are not to look for demonstrations in arguments of this nature It 's a foolish thing to expect from a Mathematician to deale by perswasion his Art lies in evident and ocular demonstration Now 't is as absurd to expect demonstration from an Orator or Moralist his businesse lies in perswasion But yet in our point in hand our perswasions must be grounded on such moral certainty as is to us without question and without feare of the contrary It is a piece of wise counsel of Aristotle That it is the wisdome of a learned man so farre forth to seek after proofs of truth in any matter as the nature of the subject matter will beare And it is agreed upon that in all learning in the highest science of all the principles are proving but not proved For that which is the first cannot be proved by any thing before it else the first were not the first as the first mover is never moved And in all Inferiour Sciences the first principles of that Science must be proved in an higher Schoole Now the first principle in the School of

need or use they have of the Scriptures in the Originals or translation Before we come unto the maine of the businesse we cannot skip over a businesse of Mr. Wotton his words are these No man ever dreamed that we commonly build our faith upon our English translation What he would have by the word commonly I know not except his heart did faile his penne when he wrote this and by this word commonly he had a conceit that he might finde by it some shift and starting hole A strange speech it is to me that English men of such he speaks who can understand no language but English should be said not to build their faith on the English translation On what then The Original they know not other translations they understand not And if they must not build their faith on the English translation they are left nothing to build their faith on And what is this but to leave all unlearned in the Originals without a rule And if this be not to steale Atheisme into the hearts of the common people I know not what is sith Atheisme is such a welcome guest to the corrupt heart as it is Which makes me call to mind an Observation of Villeroy a late wise Secretary of France That the maine different Sects of Religion in the East and the fierce opposition they made each against each made the people weary of the Christian Religion and so Mahomet crept in with his religion and was too welcome to almost all who were almost weary of the sundry Heresies and Schisms which were so brief and rife amongst Christians of the East And this saith he overthrew the Christian Church first and the Christian Empires and states next over the East and let in Mahomets Alchoran and Mahomets Sword I doubt there is scarce any strange opinion pressing hither but would be welcome to us The Christian Religion was never in such danger since my time as it is now sith men runne so many and so contrary wayes that few can now tell which is true And since so great a Clerk and so great a Reformer as Wotton hath left the poore English man no rule to prove his own or to disprove the contrary For if the English translation be not to an English man let Elias come and tell us what and which is the rule and on what an English man may build his faith on being that there is nothing left him but his English translation So the old Church after Malachi what was left to the most but the Greek Translation and after the Apostles were dead and gone the Christian Churches were tied to the Greek translation of the Old Testament or else the Old Testament was no rule to them except to a few who understood the Hebrew That which all men say saith Aristotle is not to be doubted but al the learned I think agree that the Church used no translation but the Greek for a matter of six hundred yeares after the birth of Christ for two hundred yeares before So that for my part I look upon it as a position full of danger for men to affirme That translations are not a rule to ground our faith on when we understand no other That say I or none not none therefore that And now at last after the clearing of what is past we come to the maine point to find out what it is that a poore soule who understands not the Originals must rest upon First I say that the Lord is not nor will not be wanting to his Church in things necessary to salvation And to have a rule to build our faith on is absolutely necessary to salvation And that rule for common people must be the Scripture translated or nothing And therefore I take it to be a special Ordinance that the Scriptures should be translated for the use of the Church in several languages For the Original Copies I must subscribe to that of Ganus a Papist who tells us That we are not to receive into the holy Canon both for the Old and New Testament but such books as the Apostles did allow and deliver over to the Church of Christ And as the Church of the Jewes did preserve the Hebrew Original of the Old Testament safe and sure so I doubt not but the same hand of the providence of God hath and doth preserve the Greek Original of the New Testament And for that it is not possible that the Originals should serve the turne of all or immediately of any but of such as have the knowledge of those tongues who are but a poor few in respect of all the world over wherefore I take it for granted that the line of Gods providence hath and doth and will carry the matter in having translations of several languages so inti●e as to be a sufficient rule to ground their faith else God in his providence must needs be wanting in providing necessaries for his Church Nor do I think that there was or ever shall be a Church of Christ or a Church of Christians in the belly of Antichrist but have had translations sufficient to rest their souls on I doubt not but the vulgar for all its faults hath sufficient for the saving of some soules Besides among the Papists they have Pagnine allowed by two Popes which runs as pure as any Translation in the world and Arias Montanus a translation without exception Senensis much commends Jacobus de Voragine a Papist Arch-Bishop of Genua his translation into the Italian and Senensis could well tell having great skill in the Originals To me it is much that Senensis so sharp a Papist as he is should in print and that since the Councel of Trent so highly commend a translation of the Bible into the Italian tongue And Leo the tenth Bishop of Rome did just before Luthers dayes print a recommendation of Erasinus translation of the New Testament into Latine So that I look on it as a special providence of God that there were translations and those exact too in the heart of Popery And if so then he will not suffer the visible Church to be without a sufficient translation as a sufficient rule Smith himself the great backbiter of translations saith That if the Translation agree with the Original it may well be said to be the Word of God and if it do not agree with the Original it is not the translation of the Original And now we will draw towards the main conclusion How a simple Countrey-man is to believe our Bible to be the Word Doctor Jackson and Master John Goodwin have set downe many and many excellent things but they flie so high that they are for Eagles One may say of their books as Aristotle said of his books of Philosophy That they were published yet not published seeing not to be understood without his help Now all the considerations these great Sophies have and let there be as much more added to them yet they will not

do the work till they come to the testimony of the spirit They may and do work and acquire in us an humane faith which may stand free from actual hesitation and doubting but not from possible dubitation for lay them all together yet they may deceive or be deceived Canus disputes strongly against Scotus Durand Gabriel and others who rested themselves on the authority of the Church by an acquired faith first before they come to an infused faith This saith he were to sit down by the Authority of man not of God and the formal reason of our infused faith would be other then the increated truth of God whereas the difference of faith gotten by helps may erre but faith infused by God cannot erre So that when we have all done and got all the help we can to rest on the Scriptures the work is not done till we by the Spirit of God have this sealed by infused faith in our souls that these books which we have translated are the very words of God Smith himself that grand backbiter of translations confesseth at last that if the translations of the Word of God do agree with the Originals that then they are the Word of God nor are they the Translations except they do and as far as they do concord w with the Originals If an Ambassadour deliver his minde by an Interpreter and the Interpreter do relate things right else he is not an Interpreter then his words are the speeches of the Ambassadour Well then though all humane reasons the consent of all the world will not help us to that faith in the Word which will help us to heaven yet they are a preparation and such a preparation to this faith infused that we cannot ordinarily look for faith infused but by the way of this faith which is gotten by the arguments reasons considerations convictions and helps wrought by the Argumentations and considerations proposed by men which do work as most often it doth in us an acquired humane faith free from actual though not from possible mistake and doubting This may be and is a faire meanes to bring us to look on the Scripture without any actual question made of it as the Word of God And then by the use of the Word to attain to a Divine faith which is infallible by reason of the Divine infallible truth rightly conceived and believed by it For it is out of question that by the Ministry of men who are not simply infallible both we may and do attain unto that faith in the divine Revelations of the Word which are or is infallible It s no Paradox to hold that a thing not infallible may by way of Ministry lead us to that certainty which is infallible For my part I hold universal tradition as far as it looks onely on the votes and vices of men to be of all reasons the weakest For the arguments from the authority of God be the strongest yet conclusions from the authority of men is an unartificial argument the weakest However what Arminius saith is true that this humane faith built on such an universal tradition may be a fit preparation to that other faith which is built on the Authority of God I am far●e from once thinking that in universal tradition men do once dreame to make the last resolution of their faith into the veracity of any such universal tradition For our faith must rest on the same that the Apostles and Prophets did rest their faith on But they did resolve their faith onely on truth uncreated and divine and not on the votes of the Church or any universal tradition Canus speaks the truth when he saith that the authority of the divine Scriptures is not to be sought from the reason or authority of men For the assent to a conclusion cannot be more certain then the assent to the premisses and proofs of that conclusion Now if our infused faith did rest onely or chiefly on the credit of the Church or universal tradition then our infused faith could go no higher then an humane and created truth I mean onely or chiefly on the voices or reasons of men and not on the voice and authority of God But what is this to translations Much every way I argue thus The end of the Church and people of God is that they should be saved Now if God set down the end he will provide the means of their salvation and that is faith and faith is not built on the authority of the Church or of universal tradition all which are the voices of men but on the Word of God Now this Word of God cannot concerne common people but onely as translated Now what shall a poore unlearned Christian do if that he hath nothing to rest his poore soul on the originals he understands not if he did the first Copies are not to be had and he cannot tell whether the Hebrew and Greek Copies be the right Hebrew or the right Greek or that which is said to be the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek but as men tell us who are not Prophets and may mistake Besides the Transcribers were men and might erre These considerations may let in Atheisme like a flood To help all this we will deliver our mind in some Propositions I. That God as I shewed did lay up the Hebrew Copies to be kept by the Jewes who were ordered by God to be faithful notaries to keep these Records and a world of places are cited out of the Old in the New Testament according as they are nowe in the Hebrew Copies and the Old Testament hath in it the life and soule of the New Testament Moses and the Prophets wrote of Christ The New Testament is but a cleare and infallible counter-part of the Old It s cleare that the Hebrew of the Old Testament stood cleare and uncorrupt without any breaches made in them by transcribers or otherwise till the time of the publishing of the New Testament as appears by the manie places cited in the New out of the Old chiefly where Hebrew words are kept and repeated as Hosanna Golgotha Eli Eli Lamasabachthani Mat. ●7 sutable unto the places whence they are taken out of the Old chiefly in Saint Matthews Gospel who was most punctual in applying and suiting the Prophesies of the Old Testament of all the holy penmen of the New Testament And it is easie to be proved that Matthew wrote after that was done which Luke wrote in the Acts of the Apostles Doctor Jackson saith a long time after Peter made that Sermon Act. 1. Saint Matthew addes and saith saith he it was called the field of blood unto this day Which argueth that he wrote his Gospel a long time after St. Peter made his Comment upon the Psalmist Acts 1. 15 16 17. Well then as God committed the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament to the Jewes and did and do●h move their hearts to keep it untainted to this day

say their Church cannot erre in matters of Faith And why forsooth Because it is infallibly guided by the strait line of the spirit We say The true Church cannot so erre in matters of faith or life as to fall away from Christ and so to fall into damnation And why Because besides other helps the true Church is guided by the certain and infallible direction of the spirit the vicar general to our Lord Jesus Why then may not we twit them rather then they do us with the private spirit Aquinas the first through-Papist that ever was It is Dr. John Rainolds censure of him shall speak last for this point All holy learning is proved out of the Scriptures onely necessarily out of all other authors only probably For our faith doth rest on the revelation made to the Apostles and Prophets who wrote the Canonical Books and not on any other revelation if any be made to other Doctors So he and he was preferred by Innocent the Pope before all Writers next to the Scriptures well might the Pope so do saith the same Dr. Rainolds for that he deserved better of the Papacy then all the Fathers These things are so plaine that to argue more were to weaken them As I have read it to be the observation of Tully That things perspicuous and clear are much obscured by much arguing I hope the Papists for shame will give over fooling against us that we run after private Spirits and revelations since Aquinas the flower of the Papists speaks out as much as we do as touching the sealing of the Spirit The Application of all I have made a long and tedious discourse about the Originals and Translations because I find by my self that things let fall in Print by learned men and great reformers as touching the Originals that none can say this is the Hebrew that the Greek but because Linguists and learned men say so and they may erre Nor that this is the English of the Hebrew or of the Greek which we say is but men subject to trip do so say That the Originals transcribed into many Copies might erre and mistake and for the translations that there be flaws in them too since the transcribers and translators were no Prophets but men though not willing perhaps yet subject to speak and write besides the matter that translations are not the Word of God nor our rule These and such things as these I doubt not do stagger the thoughts of weak of strong Christians too and drive a many towards Atheisme And now saith a sick soule What shall a poore feeble-hearted Christian do My counsel is that when he is come to be certain without actual doubting by reasons arguments consent of times of the Church that our Bible is the Word of God that he would in all humility and sincerity apply himselfe to read it to hear it read to heare it preached and he may promise to himself that by the use of the word the Spirit of God will infuse inspire divine saving faith into his soul and free him not only from all actual but possible doubting that the Bible translated is the word of God And if the translation then the Originals For what ever is the instrument to convert the soul must needs be the pure word of God Some are firme that God never works a miracle but to confirme truth This is past question that the Spirit of God doth never work this miracle to convert the soule but by Gods word So say Now I know that it is the pure word of God for that it is a means to convert my soul so Psal. 19. 7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul By this then I know that it is without dispute the perfect Law of the Lord because it doth not only evince and convince me but convert my soul St Austine saith that he was converted by reading the last verse of the thirteenth to the Romans and that did prove to Austine that it was the perfect Law and word of God It is storied that Cyprian was converted by reading the Prophet Jonas And Iunius in his life written by himself saith that he was converted by reading the first Chapter of the Gospel of Iohn For Austine Cyprian I think neither of them had much skill in the Originals no nor Iunius neither at that time wherefore it is plain enough that they were converted by reading translations When then a man doth finde that by reading or hearing translations read or preached upon it hath pleased God to warme thy heart to turn and change thy poor soul to convert thee into a new creature go thy ways doubt nothing its an argument past answer that the Bible even as translated is the Word of God Go on look on it as Gods word read on still be diligent to hear it with the best ears thou hast and thou shalt finde it more and more to convert and sanctifie thee and so by consequence to assure thee by an undoubtful and divine faith inspired and infused into thy poor soul by the Spirit of God that this book no other is the very Word of God By this you see where and how the poor crazy soul may find rest and it is to rest on the translated Word of God waiting therein on the line of the sweet providence who by the use of the word will breath into his soul divine faith infused by the sure influence of the Spirit of God which spirit brings a light with it by which we know that what we know this is done by a divine faith not by humane conjecture being wrought in us by a special providence of God perswading and drawing us to acknowledge the contents therein to be of Divine authority Nor is this as I said to make our private spirit the rule of our faith but we lay all at the foote of the divine providence to put light into our minds and then to work in us a firm assent to the Word of God that it is indeed and truth the very Word of God And none of this is done otherwise then by the Word of God itself and the spirit joyning with the Word In a word nothing can work saving grace in any man to the conversion of his soule but the very Word of God But this the word translated hath wrought in me therefore I know by this that the Scripture translated is the word of God sith nothing but Gods word can turne and convert the soul Make the most of that which some call universal tradition it can bring us no farther then an humane belief little better is it then that which the Papists call the authority of the Church The Ministry of the Church we grant needful and useful but for the authority of the Church we acknowledge none Thus the Jewes are for their Rabbines and their universal tradition So did the Saracens like as the Gentiles