Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	father_n	scripture_n	tradition_n	1,582	5	9.3519	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62128	XXXVI sermons viz. XVI ad aulam, VI ad clerum, VI ad magistratum, VIII ad populum : with a large preface / by the right reverend father in God, Robert Sanderson, late lord bishop of Lincoln ; whereunto is now added the life of the reverend and learned author, written by Isaac Walton.	Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663.; Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683.	1686 (1686)	Wing S638; ESTC R31805	1,064,866	813

confession of their own learned Writers depend upon unwritten Traditions more than upon the Scriptures True it is that for most of these they pretend to Scripture also but with so little colour at the best and with so little confidence at the last that when they are hard put to it they are forced to fly from that hold and to shelter themselves under their great Diana Tradition Take away that it is confessed that many of the chief Articles of their Faith nature vacillare videbuntur will seem even to totter and reel and have much ado to keep up For what else could we imagine should make them strive so much to debase the Scripture all they can denying it to be a Rule of Faith and charging it with imperfection obscurity uncertainty and many other defects and on the other side to magnifie Traditions as every way more absolute but meerly their consciousness that sundry of their Doctrines if they should be examined to the bottom would appear to have no sound foundation in the Written Word And then must we needs conclude from what hath been already delivered that they ought to be received or rather not to be received but rejected as the Doctrines and Commandments of men 14. Nor will their flying to Tradition help them in this Case or free them from Pharisaism but rather make the more against them For to omit that it hath been the usual course of false teachers when their Doctrines were found not to be Scripture-proof to fly to Tradition do but enquire a little into the Original and growth of Pharisaical Traditions and you shall find that one Egg is not more like another than the Papists and the Pharisees are alike in this matter When Sadoc or whosoever else was the first Author of the Sect of the Sadduces and his followers began to vent their pestilent and Atheistical Doctrines against the immortality of the Soul the resurrection of the Body and other like the best learned among the Iews the Pharisees especially opposed against them by arguments and collections drawn from the Scriptures The Sadduces finding themselves unable to hold argument with them as having two shrewd disadvantages but a little Learning and a bad cause had no other means to avoid the force of all their arguments than to hold them precisely to the letter of the Text without admitting any Exposition thereof or Collection therefrom Unless they could bring clear Text that should affirm totidem verbis what they denied they would not yield The Pharisees on the contrary refused as they had good cause to be tied to such unreasonable conditions but stood upon the meaning of the Scriptures as the Sadduces did upon the letter confirming the truth of their interpretations partly from Reason and partly from Tradition Not meaning by Tradition as yet any Doctrine other than what was already sufficiently contained in the Scriptures but meerly the Doctrine which had been in all ages constantly taught and received with an Universal consent among the People of God as consonant to the holy Scriptures and grounded thereon By this means though they could not satisfie the Sadduces as Hereticks and Sectaries commonly are obstinate yet so far they satisfied the generality of the People that they grew into very great esteem with them and within a while carried all before them the detestation of the Sadduces and of their loose Errors also conducing not a little thereunto And who now but the Pharisees and what now but Tradition In every Mans eye and mouth Things being at this pass any Wise Man may Judge how easie a matter it was for Men so reverenced as the Pharisees were to abuse the Credulity of the People and the interest they had in their good Opinion to their own advantage to make themselves Lords of the Peoples Faith and by little and little to bring into the Worship whatsoever Doctrines and observances they pleased and all under the acceptable name of the Traditions of the Elders And so they did winning continually upon the People by their cunning and shews of Religion and proceeding still more and more till the Iewish Worship by their means was grown to that height of superstition and formality as we see it was in our Saviours days Such was the beginning and such the rise of these Pharisaical Traditions 15. Popish Traditions also both came in and grew up just after the same manner The Orthodox Bishops and Doctors in the ancient Church being to maintain the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father the Hypostatical union of the two Natures in the Person of Christ the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and other like Articles of the Catholick Religion against the Arrians Eunomians Macedonians and other Hereticks for that the words Trinity Homoiision Hypostasis Procession c. which for the better expressing of the Catholick sence they were forced to use were not expresly to be found in the holy Scriptures had recourse therefore very often in their writings against the Hereticks of their times to the Tradition of the Church Whereby they meant not as the Papists would now wrest their words any unwritten Doctrine not contained in the Scriptures but the very Doctrine of the Scriptures themselves as they had been constantly understood and believed by all faithful Christians in the Catholick Church down from the Apostles times till the several present Ages wherein they lived This course of theirs of so serviceable and necessary use in those times gave the first occasion and after-rise to that heap of Errors and Superstitions which in process of time by the Power and Policy of the Bishop of Rome especially were introduced into the Christian Church under the specious name and colour of Catholick Traditions Thus have they trodden in the steps of their Forefathers the Pharisees and stand guilty even as they of the Superstition here condemned by our Saviour in teaching for Doctrines mens Precepts 16. But if the Church of Rome be cast how shall the Church of England be quit That symbolizeth so much with her in many of her Ceremonies and otherwise What are all our crossings and kneelings and duckings What Surplice and Ring and all those other Rites and Accoutrements that are used in or about the Publick Worship but so many Commandments of men For it cannot be made appear nor truly do I think was it ever endeavoured that God hath any where commanded them Indeed these things have been objected heretofore with clamour enough and the cry is of late revived again with more noise and malice than ever in a world of base and unworthy Pamphlets that like the Frogs of Aegypt croak in every corner of the Land And I pray God the suffering of them to multiply into such heaps do not cause the whole Land so to stink in his Nostrils that he grow weary of it and forsake us But I undertook to justifle the Church of

disobedience nor refuse to do the thing commanded by such authority whosoever should take offence thereat 39. Fourthly though lawfulness and unlawfulness be not yet expediency and inexpediency are as we heard capable of the degrees of more and less and then in all reason of two inexpedient things we are to do that which is less inexpedient for the avoiding of that which is more inexpedient Say then there be an inexpediency in doing the thing commanded by authority when a brother is thereby offended is there not a greater inexpediency in not doing it when the Magistrate is thereby disobeyed Is it not more expedient and conducing to the common good that a publick Magistrate should be obeyed in a just command than that a private person should be gratified in a causless scruple 40. Fifthly when by refusing obedience to the lawful commands of our Superiours we think to shun the offending of one or two weak brethren we do in truth incur thereby a far more grievous scandal by giving offence to hundreds of others whose consciences by our Disobedience will be emboldened to that where to corrupt nature is but too too prone to affront the Magistrate and despise Authority 41. Lastly where we are not able to discharge both debts of Iustice are to be payed before debts of Charity Now the duty of obedience is debitum Iustitiae and a matter of right my Superior may challenge it at my hands as his due and I do him wrong if I with-hold it from him But the care of not giving offence is but debitum Charitatis and a matter but of courtesie I am to perform it to my brother in love when I see cause but he cannot challenge it from me as his right nor can justly say I do him wrong if I neglect it It is therefore no more lawful for me to disobey the lawful command of a Superiour to prevent thereby the offence of one or a few brethren than it is lawful for me to do one man wrong to do another man a courtesie withal or then it is lawful for me to rob the Exchequer to relieve an Hospital 24. I see not yet how any of these six Reasons can fairly be avoided and yet which would be considered if but any one of them hold good it is enough to carry the Cause and therefore I hope there need be no more said in this matter To conclude then for the point of Practice which is the main thing I aimed at in the choice of this Text and my whole meditations thereon we may take our direction in these three Rules easie to be understood and remembred and not hard to be observed in our Practice if we will but put our good wills thereunto First if God command we must submit without any more ado and not trouble our selves about the expediency or so much as about the lawfulness of the thing commanded His very Command is warrant enough for both Abraham never disputed whether it were expedient for him nor yet whether it were lawful for him to sacrifice his Son or no when once it appeared to him that God would have it so 43. Secondly if our Superiours endued with lawful authority thereunto command us any thing we may and where we have just cause of doubt we ought to enquire into the lawfulness thereof Yet not with such anxious curiosity as if we desired to find out some loop hole whereby to evade but with such modest ingenuity as may witness to God and the world the unfeigned sincerity of our desires both to fear God and to honour those that he hath set over us And if having used ordinary moral diligence bonâ fide to inform our selves the best we can there appear no unlawfulness in it we are then also to submit and obey without any more ado never troubling our selves farther to enwhether it be expedient yea or no. Let them that command us look to that for it is they must answer for it not we 44. But then thirdly where Authority hath left us free no Command either of God or of those that are set over us under God having prescribed any thing to us in that behalf there it is at our own liberty and choice to do as we shall think good Yet are we not left so loose as that we may do what we list so as the thing be but lawful for that were licentiousness and not liberty but we must ever do that which according to the exigence of present Circumstances so far as all the Wisdom and Charity we have will serve us to judge shall seem to us most expedient and profitable to mutual Edification This is the way God give us all Grace to walk in it So shall we bring Glory to him and to our selves Comfort so shall we further his Work onward and our own Account at the last AD AULAM. Sermon XIII WHITE-HALL JULY 1641. Rom. 15. 6. That ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. THe sence hangeth unperfect unless we take in the former verse too Both together contain a Votive Prayer or Benediction wherewith the Apostle for the better speeding of all the pains he had taken in the whole former Chapter and in the beginning of this to make the Romans more charitably affected one towards another without despising the weakness or judging the liberty one of another concludeth his whole discourse concerning that Argument His Exhortations will do the better he thinketh if he second them with his Devotions I have shewed you saith he what you are to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now God grant it may be done Now the God of patience and of Consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with one c. 2. In the matter or substance of which Prayer besides the formality thereof in those first words Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant you St. Paul expresseth both the thing he desired even their unity in the residue of the fifth verse To be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus and the end for which he desired it even Gods glory in this sixth verse That ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Of that I have heretofore spoken now some years past of this I desire by Gods grace presently to speak And like as in that former part we then considered three particulars First the thing it self Unity or like-mindedness to be like-minded and then two amplifications thereof one in respect of the Persons that it should be universal and mutual one towards another the other in respect of the manner that it should be according to Christ Iesus So are we at this time in this latter part to consider of the like three particulars First the End it self the glory of God that ye may

very life it self the substance essence or being of a Man And he that should violenty take away that from another if the wise Son of Sirac were of the Inquest would certainly be found guilty of no less than Murder Hear his verdict in the case and the reason of it The bread of the needy is their life he that defraudeth him thereof is a Man of blood He that taketh away his neighbours living slayeth him and he that defraudeth the labourer of his hire is a bloodshedder Ecclus. 34. 17. And as these poor ones deserve our pity and our help in regard of the grievousness of their distresses so are we secondly bound so much the more to endeavour to succour them by how much the more they are destitute of friends or other means whereby to relieve or help themselves The Scriptures therefore especially commend to our care and protection the stranger the fatherless and the widow for these are of all others the most exposed to the injuries and opressions of their potent Adversaries because they have few or no friends to take their part so that if Men of Place and Power shall not stick close to them in their righteous causes they will be overborn and undone This Solomon saw with much grief and indignation insomuch as out of that very consideration he praiseth the dead that were already dead more than the living that were yet alive Eccles. 4. when viewing all the oppressions that are done under the Sun he beheld the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter and on the side of their Oppressors there was power but they had no comforter Power and might and friends and part-taking on the one side no power no strength no friends no comforter on the other side When things are thus and thus they have ever been and thus will they ever be more or less whilst the world continueth there is then a rich opportunity for every great and good Man especially for every conscionable Magistrate to set in for God's cause and in God's stead and by the greatness of his power to stop the course of violence and oppression and to rescue out of the hands of the Mighty those that are marked out to destruction or undoing Then is it a fit time for him to buckle on his armour with Iob to gird himself with zeal and righteousness as with a breast-plate to close with the giant oppressour and not to give over the combate till he have broken the jaws of the wicked and plucked the prey out of his teeth A good Magistrate should be as he was eyes to the blind feet to the lame a husband to the widow a father to the orphan a brother to the stranger in a word as St. Paul was but in another sense Omnia omnibus all things to all Men according to their several necessities and occasions that by all means he might at least save some from oppression and wrong 18. But that which above all other considerations should stir up our compassion to those that are in distress and make us bestir our selves in their behalf is that which I mentioned in the third place The equity of their Cause when by the power and iniquity of an unjust Adversary they are in danger to be over-born in arighteous matter For unless their matters be good and right be they never so poor their distresses never so great we should not pity them I mean not so to pity them as to be assistant to them therein For as in God so in every Minister of God every Magistrate and in every Child of God every good Man Iustice and Mercy should meet together and kiss each other Iustice without Mercy and Mercy without Justice are both alike hateful to God both alike to be shuned of every good Man and Magistrate Lest therefore any Man should deceive himself by thinking it a glorious or a charitable act to help a poor Man howsoever the Lord hath given an express prohibition to the contrary Exod. 23. Thou shalt not countenance a poor Man in his Cause that is in a good cause shrink not from him but if his cause be naught let his poverty be what it will be thou mayest not countenance him in it He that hath respect of persons in judgment cannot but transgress and he that respecteth a Man for his poverty is no less a respecter of persons than he that respecteth a Man for friendship or neighbour-hood or greatness or a bribe In this case the Magistrate cannot propose to himself a fitter or safer example than that of God himself who as he often professeth to have a special care over the stranger and fatherless and widow and needy so doth he often declare his proceedings to be evermore without respect of persons 19. That therefore whilst we avoid the one extreme that of incompassion we may not fall into the other that of foolish pity it will be needful that we rightly understand Solomon's purpose in the Text. For it may perhaps seem to some to be here intended that every Man should do his utmost to save the life of every other Man that is in danger to lose it And accordingly many Men are forward more than any good subject hath cause to con them thanks for to deprecate the favour of the Iudge for the saving of some hanious Malefactor or to sue out a Pardon for a wilful Murderer or say it be but to help some busie crafty compaion to come fair off in a fould business And when they have so done as if they had deserved a Garland for their service so do they glory among their neighbours at their return from these great Assemblies that their journey was well bestowed for they had saved a proper Man from the Gallows or holpen a good fellow out of the Briers Alas little do such Men consider that they glory in that which ought rather to be their shame such glorying is not good For albeit in the Text it be not expressedly so set down yet must Solomon of necessity be understood to speak of the delivering of such only as are unjustly drawn to the slaughter and not of such Malefactors as by Robberies Rapes Murders Treasons and other guiltinesses have justly deserved the sentence of death by the Law For we must so understand him here as not to make him contradict himself who else-where telleth us that it is the part and property of a wise King to scatter the wicked and to bring the wheel over them and that he that hath done violence to the blood of any person should flie to the pit and no man should stay him Against Murder the Lord provided by an early Law Gen. 9. enacted and published before him out of whose loins the whole World after the floud was to be repeopled to shew it was not meant for a national and temporary ordinance but for an universal and perpetual Law Whoso sheddeth Man's