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A13169 The examination and confutation of a certaine scurrilous treatise entituled, The suruey of the newe religion, published by Matthew Kellison, in disgrace of true religion professed in the Church of England Sutcliffe, Matthew, 1550?-1629. 1606 (1606) STC 23464; ESTC S117977 107,346 141

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answered by vs in a Treatise called Turco Papismus And that so sufficiētly that D. Gifford resteth eyther satisfied or silent If then this new surueyor would needes renew their slaunders and vaine obiections he should for his credit sake haue doone wel eyther to haue replyed to our answere or to haue held his peace as his betters haue done Againe if hee had beene so wise and circumspect as he pretendeth to bee he would haue been well aduised before he entred this course least he might giue vs occasion to rip vp the deformities fooleries absurdities Heresies impieties and other abuses of Popery of which I doubt not but his best friendes when they are laid open will bee much ashamed Himselfe being but a new vpstart Doctor lately crept out of my Lord Vauxes Buttery will bee much puzled to make any probable defence for them Thus much may serue for answere to the front of his Suruey and his two liminare Epistles For the rest I shall not neede to say much in this place Onely this I thought good to signifye vnto thee good Reader that thou looke not for any curious or long answere heereafter to wit that the whole volume is nothing but a newe packe of olde calumniations and lyes The forme of his discourse is trifling the Subject rayling Such declamations it should seeme hee was wont in the time of his butlerage to make ouer a canne of Beere His proofes are fancies and bare conceites His witnesses fellowes of a lowe price His conclusions weake collections It may bee eyther neede and hunger or else hope and promise of reward made him so talkatiue How be it least hee might grow proud of his owne prowesse I haue vndertaken to shape him a short answere In the meane while concerning his obiections and proofes this hee may learne of mee for his instruction First that it is a foolish thing for a man to obiect that to others whereof they are cleare and hee moste guiltie and to suruey other mens estates when his owne can abide no suruey Secondly that the bosome and domesticall testimonies of Cochleus Genebrard Bolsec Stapleton and such like are little to be esteemed Fidele est testimonium quod causas non habet mentiendi That testimony saith Hierome ad Saluinam deserueth most credit that hath no causes of fiction Be not then mooued with the largenesse of Kellisons volume nor with his manifold leasings Common barators are wont to put in longest billes whē they haue least matter and shallow waters make moste noise To such lewd and long lies this our short answere will be more then sufficient Vouchsafe therefore to compare both our discourses together and to reade them with indifferency And so thou shalt soone discouer the vanitie of his accusations and giue sentence for our innocency THE EXAMINATION and Confutation of Kellisons scurrilous Suruey of the newe Religion as he tearmeth it Chap 1. Kellisons fond conceit and error concerning the foundations of our Religion IF it be the part of a wise builder to lay a firme foundation as our Sauiour Christ Math. 7. teacheth and common experience prooueth most euidently vnto vs then we may wel collect that Kellison our aduersary in his Suruey hath shewed himselfe neither wise builder nor wise man who in his first booke going about to build the Toure of his Romish Babel doth wholy mistake his foundations laying the frame of his worke eyther vpon the Pope whome he supposeth to be a visible Iudge of all controuersies or vpon the mission and preaching of Romish Masse priestes Furthermore talking of our Religion he doth grossely erre in the foundations of it supposing that it relyeth first vpon the authoritie of our Preachers then vpon their allegations out of Scriptures thirdly vpon mens priuate spirits fourthly vpon credible or probable testimonies and lastly vpō some visible Iudge matters certes rather deuised by him selfe then taught by vs. The visible Iudge and authoritie of Priestes is layd as a foundation of fayth by Stapleton in his booke of doctrinal principles That which he talketh of priuat spirits and the allegatiō of Scriptures out of mens own humors is an imputation of Papists layd vpon vs and that most vniustly For we build the Church vpon the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ him selfe being the cheefe corner stone as the Apostle teacheth vs Ephes 2. And the Scriptures we receiue not as they are interpreted by the Massepriests or any mans humorous fancy but as they procéed from the spirit of God by the ministery of his Prophets and Apostles Wherefore mistaking the foundation of the worke we may well imagine that his discourse that is a worke raysed either without foundation or beside the foundation is most vaine idle and absurd The first Chapter of his first booke he beginneth with a long declamatory narration proouing that no man is to intrude him selfe into the function of the ministery of the Church without mission But what is that to the foundation of religion which is the subiect which he promised to handle Doth he suppose that the principal foundation of his Massing religion is layd vpon the preaching or rather not preaching mission of pol-shorne priests sent out by the Pope to say Masse for quicke and dead if he doe then like as his gunpowder consortes went about of late to blow vp the King and Sate so doth he goe obout to blow vp the Popes Chayre together with all his Cardinals Friars Monkes and Masse-priestes For first the Pope shall neuer be able to proue his mission Ephes 4. wee read that Christ gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and Teachers But the Pope is none of all these His state is too great to be conteyned within this small and weake number Further he is no successor of Peter For he rather killeth thē féedeth Christs shéep Thirdly he rather medleth with Swordes then Keyes and if he handleth the Keyes of the Church yet can he shewe no Commission for it Fourthly he is absurd if he clayme the right of a Bishop For he doth not the worke of a Bishop Lastly the Apostles Successors and Preachers sent from God procéed according to their Commission and Instructions receiued from God But the Pope procéedeth according to his owne Decretales and the rules of his owne Chancery Out then must he goe and all that pretend to come from him as méere intruders if we folowe the Apostles rules The Cardinals are but of a late standing S. Peter had no Cardinals about him Nor were the parish Priests of Rome that assisted the auncient Bishops of that Cittie so gallant fellowes as these new Cardinals are They neither preach nor Baptise as Cardinals And therefore cannot pretend right of succession eyther from the Apostles or from auncient Bishops or Priestes In the holy Scriptures albeit some alleadge the wordes Cardines terrae there is no mention of them Finallye the Fathers knew them not If then the Popes decretales warrant them not
of Iude. But his writings doe refute these slaunders and nothing doth K. bring to iustifie them Lastly he sayth Caluin and Luther will haue the bare letter or joyned with their voluntary exposition to be Iudge of controuersies matters vtterly vntrue and improbable For neither doe we admitte the letter without the sence nor doe we allow voluntary or priuate expositions Pag. 46. he falsifyeth the testimony of Scriptures where he sayth Her selfe confesseth her owne obscurity For S. Peter 2. Epist 3. doth not say that the Scriptures are obscure as this K. pretendeth but only that certaine thinges in S. Pauls Epistles are difficult And psal 119. the Prophet compareth Gods word to a Lanterne and to light Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum sayth he lumen semitis meis If any obscuritie and difficultie be attributed to Scriptures by Fathers it is only in such poyntes as are not necessary to saluation Finally he reciteth the words of Luther concerning the plainnesse of Scriptures partially and obiecteth vnto vs the testimony of Osiander about the differences concerning mans iustification by Christ But neither is Luther to be blamed if he reprooue those that call Scriptures obscure nor is any credite to be giuen to Bellarmine citing Osiander nor to Osiander where he writeth against those that differ from him in the Article of mans iustification Long may he declayme against Luther and Osiander and others But nothing doth his reasoning or rather rayling against reading of Scriptures effect For who will not rather folowe the exhortation of Chrysostome exhorting lay-men to get them Bibles and to read Scriptures then regarde the babling of this Popish parasite that calleth readers of scriptures Biblists and sayth we holde that to be the true meaning of Scriptures which euery ones priuate spirit imagineth In the third chapter of his first book he disputeth against those which make their owne priuate Spirit supreme iudge in earth of the interpretation of Scripture The which as it lanceth the Pope deepely whose priuate and satanical spirit is the supreame iudge whome all Papists are bound to follow so it toucheth not vs at all For albeit wee refuse the Pope and his adherents for iudges yet we relye not vpon our owne priuate spirit in expounding scriptures but vpon the spirit of God that eyther speaketh plainely or expoundeth himselfe in some other place and for atteining the right vnderstanding of Scriptures vse the hope of tonges the exposition of fathers and all learned men the discourse of histories and all other good meanes Neither did Luther thinke or proceede otherwise Why then doth noth this superlunaticall Surueyor declare who they bee that doe attribute the publike and iudiciall interpretation of Scriptures to euery mans priuate spirit and in what place why doth he forge to himselfe an absurde opinion held by none that I knowe saue the Papists who in matters controuersed hold the Popes priuate definition for a supreme resolution would hee therein shew his triumphant eloquence if this were his purpose let vs see I beseech you what he performeth First he saith selfe loue is a good as guilding and then talketh of the goodmans Cowe Pans pipe Appolloes harpe painting of womens faces Hens and Chickens and such like fooleries But his horrible eloquence declareth him to bee the Chicken of a Buzzard and a blinde Harper that cannot discerne betweene selfe loue priuate spirits His reader also may see that hee hath as much skill in painting of faces as in expounding of scriptures And yet all his Cow eloquence wil not serue to couer the deformities of the painted whore of Babilon of whome hee is a deuoute seruant and vppon whome he bestoweth much complextion to no purpose Luther regardeth it not albeit some of the Fathers should speake against a point of faith neither would hee submitte his Doctrine to be iudged by the Romish antichristian prelates But that sheweth not that he preferred himselfe before any but rather that hee preferred the Scriptures and articles of Christian faith before all And to them he exhorteth all to submitte themselues ascribing nothing to his owne opinion But what if Luther shold haue spoken out of square what is that to the new Religion he speaketh off doth our religion depend vpō euery word of Luther certes no more then the faith of the Church of Rome vpon the idle discourses of Kellisons Suruey As for Caluin hee referreth nothing to his owne spirrit but to the rule of Gods word to which he submitteth his interpretations as well of these wordes hoc est corpus meum as of other places of Scriptures else where interpreted by him Finally we neither reiect Fathers nor Councels nor godlye pastors The skip-iacke surueyor therefore that calleth Luther and Caluin Skip-iacks and like a skip-iack running from matter to matter makes so long a declamation against selfe loue and ouer-weening a mans selfe did herein seeme to loue himselfe but too much and much to offend in ouer-weening and surcuydrie that pleased himselfe in this Chapter that is so farre from the purpose so false in respect of vs and so contrarie to himselfe and his owne cause His fourth Chapter he beginneth as his manner is with a pedanticall declamation against Parricides shewing how strangely they were punished being sowed into a sacke with a Cocke a Viper an Ape and a Dogge But to what purpose is all this doth he thinke that it is no lesse then the crime of Parricide to reiect some Fathers why then the Pope and his agents by the confession of this K. are all parricides and for their dogged and viperous apish and cockish natures deserue to be sewed in sackes as Vrbane the sixt did deale with certaine Cardinals with the beastes of like nature to be throwne into the sea As for vs wee reiect no Fathers that consent one with another and with holy scriptures in matters of faith but rather the bastardlye writinges of falsaries and of such as take vppon them the names of Fathers or else such as hold singular opinions or varie from the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles of Christ Luther had no reason in matter of the Sacrifice of the Masse to disclaime the fathers which all with one voice as I haue iustified against Bellarmine make against the carnall sacrifice of the Popish Masse for quicke and dead But if hee or Caluin or any other speake against Fathers it is not against all nor against the Bookes which are certainely knowne to bee theirs but against counterfet fellowes and some particuler opinions If Caluin should call the men of Trent Hogges and Asses he did them a speciall fauour For they shewed themselues to bée worse being open enemies of the Christian faith and moste obstinate oppugners of the truth But they are none of our Fathers nor of the Fathers of the Church Nor is the synagogue of Rome maintaining the abuses which we refuse our Mother but the Mother of fornications or as Petrarch calleth her the