Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	rule_n	tradition_n	unwritten_a	2,845	5	12.5918	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09462	Satans sophistrie ansuuered by our Sauiour Christ and in diuers sermons further manifested / by that worthy man Maister William Perkins ; to which is added, a comfort for the feeble minded, wherein is set downe the temptations of a Christian.	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.	1604 (1604)	STC 19747.7; ESTC S4051	89,009	206

his protection to keepe within the compasse of it Iesus said vnto him It is written againe Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God In these words is cōtained the answer of our Sauiour Christ to the second temptation of the Diuell wherein he doth oppose Scripture against Scripture But to expound that place which the Diuell alleaged and to shew how vilely Satan abuseth the word of God he alleageth another place of Scripture wherein our Sauiour Christ answers the Diuell that it is true God hath made sundry promises in his word of protectiō to his people but yet so as if they refuse to walke in the cōmandements of God and to vse such lawfull meanes as he prescribeth in his word he is not bound to perfome them for they be made vpon that condition Againe it is written Seeing our Sauior Christ doth alleage another place of Scripture to expound that the Diuel brought against him and to shew how he abused Scripture hence we gather that the holy Scriptures are of themselues sufficient to interprete themselues for so Christ alleageth another text of scripture to expound that which Satan alleageth and to confute his abusing of it So we find that Ezra did expound the law of God and giues the sense of it by the scriptures and so expounds the one by the other Nehem. 8. 9. Iunius Now if the seruants of God could do this in the old Testament how much more may we in the new wherein many things are most plainely opened and expounded by Christ and his Apostles But the Papists cannot by any meanes yeeld to this doctrin for they hold that that which must interprete the scriptures must haue iudiciall power and authoritie to iudge of the sense of the scriptures but they hold the scriptures are but a dumbe letter and therefore are not able to iudge of the sense ād meaning of the scriptures Yet for all that we see by the example of our sauior Christ that the scriptures are of sufficient power to giue the sense of the scriptures to interprete thēselues and to shew what is the true sense of the scriptures though they be dumbe And as we see that a mā may aswel shew his mind to his friend by letters and writing as by word of mouth euen so the Lord God speakes now to his people by the scriptures as well as he did in olde time by his owne liuely voice from heauen But if the Papists will yet deny the scriptures to haue power to iudge and determine of the sense of the Scriptures then would I know who hath this power giuen vnto him They answer the church must giue iudgement and determine of the sense of the scriptures but that is false for the Lord hath not giuen any such power to the Church to determine of the sense of the scriptures at her pleasure but only he hath giuen to the ministery of the word to open and expound the scriptures by the scriptures thēselues As a Lawyer hath not that power to iudge of the law of his Prince and to giue what sense he listeth but onely to expound the law and to giue the sense of it by the words of the law and other circumstances cōcerning the same The Church of Rome say further they 〈◊〉 determine of the sense of the scriptures either by the rule of faith or the consent of the fathers or if they faile then the Pope he is 〈◊〉 determine of them as one that cannot erre 1 Concerning the rule of Faith by which they vnderstand vnwritten traditions how can they be fit iudges to determine of the sence of the scriptures vnlesse we will gi●e more authoritie to vnwritten verities then to the written word of God Nay onely the scriptures must be the rule of faith and only the scriptures iudge and determine of the sense of themselues 2 Neither is the consent of Fathers a sufficient rule to giue iudgement and to determine of the sense of the scriptures for we know that they being men and many of thē hauing not the knowledge of Hebrew and Greeke yea and most of all in expounding the word are subiect to error and sometimes do erre And by the same reason the Pope is no meete man to be the iudge of the scriptures and to determine what should be the sense of thē seeing he is subiect to manifold errors and many Popes haue erred in the foundations of Religion Now follow the words of Christs answer taken out of Deut. 6. 16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God First we must search what this word to tempt signifies secondly the maner how God is said to be tēpted thirdly the cause and root of this tempting of God First To tempt God is to proue or to make trial whether God be such a one as the scriptures report him to be namely whether he be so iust so mercifull so mightie as the word of God describes him to be So the Propet Dauid expounds it Psal. 95. 9. Your father 's tempted me and proued me in the desert Where to tempt is to proue Gods iustice and mercie whether he were so iust and mercifull as the word sets him out to be and as he promised to be Secondly for the manner it is not simply to tempt and to make triall of God but to tempt God is to make needlesse triall of Gods power c. when we haue no cause to try the Lord and so it is taken here in the words of Christ Thou shalt not tempt that is thou shalt not take needlesse and vnnecessarie experience and triall of Gods power and goodnesse Thirdly the cause which moueth men to tempt God is a distrustfull and vnbeleeuing heart euē want of faith So the Israelites tēpted God Psal. 78. ver 18. 22. They tempted God in their hearts and required meate for their lust And the reason is vers 22. because they did not beleeue in God and did not trust in his helpe because they did not relye vpon his care and fatherly prouidēce so that vnbeleefe was the roote of this their tempting of God So then to tempt God is to make needlesse and vnnecessarie triall and experience of his mercie goodnesse power and iustice proceeding from a distrusting heart Now God may be tempted fiue maner of wayes First when men will take vpon them to appoint God the time when the place where and the maner how God must helpe them and accomplish his promise to them Thus the Israelites in the wildernes wanting water they say Is the Lord amongst it vs or no● shewing that through the Lord had promised he would be with them yet vnlesse he would at that time giue them water in their need they would not giue credit to his promise Againe Psal. 78. ●0 though the Lord had giuen them water yet they say Can he giue bread also or prepare flesh for his people● still shewing that vnlesse the Lord would at their pleasures now presently send them

And the Magistrate is especially bound to looke to this seeing it is the law of God that the blasphemer should be stoned to death now this law is perpetuall And if a man for speaking a word of disgrace against the person of the Prince wittingly and willingly shall iustly lose his life then he that is a blasphemer and speakes to the disgrace of the eternall God is much more worthie to die a thousand deaths Secondly by this answer of Christ we learne how to behaue our selues when any shall go about to perswade vs to depart frō his Church to renounce true religion we must accompt of them in that respect as the instruments of Satan If the father should seeke to withdraw his owne child from the true religion the sonne must not spare the father but must cast the first stone at him Deut. 13. And when Peter would haue disswaded Christ from going to Ierusalem he saith Get thee behind me Satan though he was an excellent Apostle yet in this Christ accompts of him as of the very diuell Againe in that Christ bids Satan now auoide and will dispute no longer with him we must hereby learne how to answer the diuell in his temptations though at the first when his temptations be more mild we may reply by the word of God yet when Satan shall be more violent in his assaults we must imitate our Sauior Christ bid him auoide and dispute no more with him And whatsoeuer he shall bring against vs when we are not able to answer him yet let vs hold the maine conclusion in the word of God not vouchsa●ing him an answer It is written Seeing our Sauior Christ now the third time answers the Diuell by the scriptures saying It is written we learne that the written word beleeued and vnderstood is the most sufficient weapon to confute to confound Satan his vile tēptations else Christ wold not now euē the third time haue made choise of this weapon It is written againe This confutes the Papists who make two Scriptures one vnwritten and inward which is traditions the consent of the fathers which haue liued in all ages the other written in the holy scriptures Now they do make their vnwritten scriptures as they call them and the consent of fathers to be of equall authoritie with the written word of God which our Sauior Christ doth shew here to be the most powerfull meanes to repell all Satans temptations And the holy scriptures which they call a dead letter and make as though it had no power in it eue● this alone is the sword of the spirit to confound satan and therefore damnable is that their doctrine which so abuseth the holy Scriptures sets vp the erronious tradition of sinfull men For if the written word had bene but a dead letter our sauiour Christ would neuer haue made choise of it abou● all other weapons three seuerall times to confute Satan euery time answering It is written Secondly by this answer of Christ saying It is written we learne how to behaue our selues when any shall seeke to turne vs from true Religion to embrace false Religion though we cannot answer their arguments but they set such a colour on them by their wit and eloquence and seeme to dazle our eyes that we can not see their deceits yet we must sticke to the scriptures and clea●● fast to the text of the Bible and if we find but one sentence in al the Bible to perswade vs of the truth of Religion we must hang vpon it with both hands and let not o● hold go nay it must be of more force credit with vs then a thousand arguments that tend to the contrary Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God only In these words is contained the answer of our sauiour Christ to the third temptation of the Diuell The words are takē out of Deut. 6 13. where they are read thus Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serue him Now there may seeme to be some difference in the words as they be alleaged by Christ for in that place of Deuteronomy it is said Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God our sauiour Christ saith Thou shalt worship Againe our sauiour Christ addes a word which is not added by Moses in that place namely Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God onely this word onely is not in that text of Moses But if we vnderstand two points concerning the alleaging of scripture there will appeare to be no difference the first is this that Christ and his Apostles in their alleaging of scripture do not so much sticke to the very ●illables as aime at the sense of the scriptures which they alleage The second thing is this that our sauiour Christ in alleaging scripture seekes to expound scripture and to open it in alleaging of it and so doing he may well adde a word when as the word he addeth maketh much for the meaning of the text And thus Christ in this place chaungeth the word not mistaking of it but rather to expound Moses for whereas Moses saith Thou shalt feare the Lord he meaneth that religious feare whereby we feare God and worship him Now our sauiour Christ he saith Thou shalt worship shewing Moses meant that feare whereby we do with reuerence and bowing of the body and adoring of God worship him moued thereunto by religious feare either in praying for some mercy we want or giuing thankes for some benefite receiued Againe Christ in alleaging this text of Scripture he addes a word yet so as he doth it without any fault for though this word alone be not in Moses his text expresly set downe yet it is included and in sense it is vnderstood for where he saith in the thirteenth verse Thou shalt feare the Lord and ads no more in the fourteenth verse he saith Thou shalt not walke after any other gods so that a mā may easily perceiue he did in sēse include it though not expresse it in words and thus we see our sauiour Christ cleared In the text of scripture alleaged by Christ note two points first what this worship and feare is secondly to whom worship is due First worship taken generally signifieth the giuing of honor and reuerence to another Now this honour is either ciuill or diuine Ciuill honour is that outward reuerence we giue to men by ●rostrating of the body or bowing of the knee and the end of this ciuill worship is that thereby we might acknowledge another to be our superiour therfore it is giuen of subiects to Princes or of inferiours to those that by some meanes are their superiours And thus Iacob worshipped that is gaue ciuil worship to Esau seuen times Genes 33. 3. This reuerence Abraham gaue to the Hittites Gen. 23. 7. Lot to the Angels bowed himselfe to the ground Gen. 19. 1. where he gaue them onely ciuill worship and honour So then it is manifest by these examples that we may lawfully bow and bend the