Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	father_n	true_a	worship_v	5,831	5	9.4836	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03857	The advise of a sonne, novv professing the religion established in the present Church of England, to his deare mother, yet a Roman Catholike	Hungerford, Anthony, Sir, 1564-1627.	1616 (1616)	STC 13971.5; ESTC S115241	23,830	40

tell you they haue an vndoubted way to assure you of the doctrine they teach you to bee the truth of God which is by meanes of the miracles they boast to be frequent with them I wil confesse if we may beleeve them it hath been as easie and familiar with them to worke a wonder as it hath been with the Pope to make a Saint and yet I must tell you some doctors of his owne a Canus loc l. 5. c. 5. q. 5. Concl. 3. Cajetan likewise make doubt whether al be Saints in heavē that the Popes have canonized for such and thrust into the Romane Calender But to the miracles which they can chalenge as proper to their Church since their Bishops of that Sea haue ascended into the seate of their Vniversall Soveraignetie if they were all true as for the most part questionlesse they are but fables impostures such as those of the Legend are observed to be by men judicious and learned among themselves as Canus that plainly stiles the writer of them b Canus loc l. 11. c. 6. a man of a brasen face and a leaden heart Espenceus that affirmes c 2. Tim. 4. digr 25. No stable to be so ful of dongue as the Legends are ful of lies yet could this prove no certaine meane to assure vs of the truth to be with them seeing as Stapleton one of their Priests confesseth d Stapleton prompt mor part astiu in Dominic 24. post Pentecost For the more triall of the godly not only Antichrist himselfe and his forerunners but all heretikes also may doe true miracles by the permission of God as the Sorcerers of Pharaoh did And greater I presume my masters of Rome cānot boast of in these later times then Baronius the Cardinall hath recorded to be done by Simon Magus that instrument of the divel e Anno 63. num 22. That he made Images to walke and would lye in the fire without hurt that hee would flye in the ayre and make bread of stones that he could open doores fast shut vnloose bonds of iron that hee had many shadowes following him as it had bin men c. The like we may reade of others of that kinde But for resolution of this point I will here set downe a discourse of a learned Father the which is well worthy of your observation f Chrysost oper imperf num 49. Since Heresies have gained place in the Church there can bee no proofe of true Christianitie neither refuge for Christians willing to know the truth but the holy Scriptures Hereto fore it was by many means declared which was the Church of Christ and which was Gentilisme but now there is no way for those that are willing to know which is the true Church of Christ but by the Scriptures only wherefore because all those things that properly belong to Christ in truth Heresies likewise haue in schisme they haue churches they haue the holy scriptures they haue Bishops other orders of the Clergie they have Baptisme the holy Eucharist and all other things yea Christ himselfe whosoever therfore is willing to know which is the true Church of Christ how shal he know it in the confusion of so great resemblance but by the Scriptures only Heretofore it was knowne by miracles which were true Christians which false by what means The false either could not work signes as the true Christians did or at least not such as true Christiās could But now the working of miracles is wholly ceased and it is observed that counterfeit signes are more wrought with them that are false Christians Nay Peter in Clement hath foreshewed that Antichrist shal haue power giuē him to work true miracles Heretofore by the outward cōversation the Church of Christ might be knowne when the lives of Christians either all or the most part were holy such as it was not with others but now Christiās are become as bad or worse then heretikes or Gentiles nay there is a better outward carriage many times observed amongst those that are in Schisme then amongst Christians Hee therefore that would know which is the true Church of Christ how should hee know it but only by the Scriptures Our Lord therefore knowing that so great confusion of things would happen in the last dayes commands Christians that desire to receiue assurance of true faith to fly to nothing but the holy Scriptures If they looke to other things they shall be scandalized and perish not vnderstāding which is the true Church and thereby shall light vpon the abomination of desolation which shall stand in the holy places of the Church c. Thus far St. Chrysostom My masters of Rome howsoever they glose it like not the language of this learned Father To wish thē to expose their Church and doctrine to bee judged by the holy Scriptures were a hard saying with the Capernaites g Ioh. 6.60 in good reason they may tell you they cannot beare it But if St. Chrysostome had dealt so friendly with them as in place of onely Scriptures to haue named the word of God defining that word to consist as well of vnwritten traditions as the written word had withall assigned the Church of Rome with her supreame Pastor to be the trustie treasurer of vnwritten verities and the only infallible interpreter of the written word whereof the Cardinals conclusion might haue beene made good h Hosius de express Dei verbo pag. 38. That which pleaseth the Church is Gods expresse word and at the last resolving this Church into the Pope i Vnder the name of church we vnderstand her head that is to say the Rom. or bishop Greg. de valent in Tho. tom 3. disput 1. quaest 1. punct 1. alone questionlesse they would haue taken it as a kindnes at his hands But if he will insist vpon only Scriptures they will never giue over cavelling at this point First they will tell him k Canus loc l. 3. c. 3. that many things belong to Christian faith which are contained in the Scriptures neither openly nor obscurely St Chrysostome it seemes was of another mind who affirmeth l In Mat. hom 45. That whatsoever is required to salvation is all accomplished in the Scriptures neither is any thing wanting there that is needfull for mans salvation which mooues another of the antients to advise m Isidorus Pelusiota lib. 1. ep 369. That we refuse whatsoeuer is taught vnlesse it bee contained in the volume of the Bible a reason whereof Cyril a learned Father giues n lib. 72. in Ioh. haec autē scriptasunt c Because such things are written as the Apostles saw suffïcient for our faith and manners Possibly if they be intreated much in good nature they will acknowledge at the last as Bishop the Seminarie doth in his Tract against M. Perkins of Traditions o The scriptures containe not the resolution of difficulties which the learned must beleeue if they

the compasse of this written law this charge is giuen f Deut. 4.2 That wee put nothing to the Word which hee commands vs nor take ought therefrom that wee may keepe the Commandements of the Lord our God which are commanded And although the Prophesies were penned after at sundrie times by men vndoubtedly directed by the holy Ghost yet shal we find no new article of doctrine delivered in them but they serue many times to explaine the law They Prophesie of Christ to come the accomplisher of the law and generally they are all Gods Heraulds to denounce his iudgements and heavie wrath against the transgressors of the law of Moses But in the fulnesse of time when Christ came into the world of whome Moses and the Prophets wrote the Gospell was published which was no other but a cleare declaration of the prophesies and the law whereof a learned Father aptly giues this note g August de Carichisand Rud. That in the olde testament the New is hidden and in the new is the manifestation of the olde And this Gospel was first preached but after as one other of the Ancients observeth well h Iren. advers haeres l. 3. c. 1. was by the will of God delivered in the Scriptures to be the pillar and foundation of our faith And in this sacred booke is wonderfully set foorth vnto vs the infinite wisdome of the supreame Law-maker of the world for as in the civill government of earthly Kingdomes those lawes are ever commended most that leave least to the discretion of the Iudge and never hath any common-weale had laws so exactly framed but with time they haue bin sound sensibly defectiue in this point so certainely this perfection is peculiar only to the written laws of the Lord of heaven so farre foorth that for the ministers of this law to adde or alter any one thing respecting the religious dutie and service wee owe to God though but in offering strange fire before the Lord as did Nadab and Abihu the sonnes of Aaron makes them liable to his wrath and malediction for their presumption This moued Saint Augustine that reverend Father alluding to the words of the blessed Apostle confidently to pronounce i Contra Lit. Petilian lib. 3. cap. 6. That whether concerning Christ or concerning the Church of Christ or concerning any thing that pertaineth to our faith and life we will not say if we but if an Angell from heaven shall preach vnto you but what you haue received in the Scriptures of the Law and the Gospell accursed be hee The consideration of this gaue me occasion to forsake my communion with the Church of Rome in whose bosome I receiued the first instruction for matter of my salvation as you your selfe deare Mother can well remember But after divers yeares when by accident this principle had taken impression in me k Rom. 10 1● That faith commeth by hearing of the word of God and then calling to mind that many points of the religion I haue embraced were not to bee found within the volume of Gods sacred booke I began to question with my masters of that Church whom I did then reverence and admire as men wholly composed to devotion and sinceritie by what authority they could approve thē where after many paffages with the relation wherof I thinke not fit to trouble you their resolution was That a great portion of Gods word was not l Little of Gods word is committed to writing the greatest part of it is come to vs by tradition Hosius Confess Polon pag 383. contained within the holy Scriptures but delivered in safe custodie to passe from hand to hand by tradition for the truth and certainty whereof they tolde me I must depend vp●n the credit of their m Alphons 2 Castro advers haeres l. 1. c. 5. Church the which after much debate they resolved at the last into the bosome of the n Mater Ecclesia per os● summi pontificis loquens Bellar. Apol. contra praef monito serenissi Reg. Iac. pag. 78. Romane Bishop when I considered this and perceiued in the end the weaknesse of the grounds that must warrant the truth of these vnwritten verities as they style them I thought it no longer safe-to commit my selfe for direction to those guides my masiers I meane of the Church of Rome of whom in my conscience we may complain as the Prophet Ieremy did of the false teachers in his dayes o Ierem. 8.9 They haue reiected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is then in them For although it cānot be denied but they reteine and publish some principles of our Christian profession according to the truth of Gods holy word yet even those truths they recommend vnto vs vpon as perillous false a ground as if a man should therfore beleeue Christ Jesus to be the Sonne of the living God because the Divell did confesse it To this purpose deare Mother I beseech you to note that whereas Gods sacred word is left vnto vs to be the rule and foundation of our faith and religion my masters of Rome intending to build a new thinke it proper first to lay a new foundation in place of the holy Scriptures to be the rule direction of our faith they advāce their Church the which neverthelesse being rightly vnderstood holds no resemblāce with the Church in truth And the rather to invite vs to pin our faith vpon this their Church they tender vs some formes of truth the which when wee haue embraced vpon their Churches authority shee will not leaue vs so but this Church that teacheth vs to worship God by like authority wil then require vs to worship p Seeing Christ is to be adored with divine worship his Image also is to be adored with the same adoration Tho Aquin part 3. q. 25. art 3. Images Shee that teacheth vs to pray to God wil command vs likewise to pray trourblessed Ladie and the q The new Creed published by Pope Pius the fourth Saints Shee that teacheth vs that Christ by one offring of his body once made in sacrifice vpon the Crosse hath purchased remission for our sinnes requireth vs likewise to beleene that she offers dayly vnto God the same reall body of Christ in sacrifice which himselfe offered vpon the Crosse as a r I consesse that in the Masse is offered to God a true proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and the dead ibid. propitiation for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead She that teacheth vs that Christ hath madesatisfaction for his sin by blood-shedding and bitter passion will teach vs withall that our selues must make satisfaction for some sort of our sins by our workes of penance the which if wee neglect that then wee must satisfie Gods justice for them after this life by suffering paines in a purgatory fire vnlesse this holy Mother out of compassion shall free vs by her indulgence á favour she

maine supporter of all religion at this day in the Church of Rome is not so ancient by many ages in the world as is the Alcoran of that accursed Mahomet If the foundation be proved new what rule can they propose to secure your conscience for the antiquity of the building their cōtinued Priesthood their daily sacrifice their satisfactions for sinne their workes of merit their reall change in the Sacrament their adoration of it their mangled communion their worship of Images their prayers to Saints their Auricular Confession their Purgatory fire with all that trumperie besides which they tender vnder the name and disguised habite of Church traditions Certainly all these are terrae filij If they seeke to the Scriptures for their originall they will be sent packing with we know you not Possibly it may be demanded what I thinke of our forefathers who liued in the latter ages of the world while these mists of Popery lay thicke vpon the face of the visible Church in these Westerne parts Were they damned all God forbid that any man should be so savage to write or think so I verily beleeve and haue beene alwaies taught so that as well the Church of England as other of forraine parts when the tyranny and corruptions of the Papacie did most oppresse them were neverthelesse portions of Gods vniversall Church and sent many soules to God For even in these when they were most obscured with errour and ignorance yet all essentiall points of Christian doctrine were to bee learned touching the invocation and worshippe of God touching our redemption by Christ Iesus crucified touching our observation of Gods commandements so the rest so that concerning out forefathers this may suffice that as wee are bound in Christian charitie to hope the best of their salvation that before vs embraced the faith of Christ though possibly divers of them might approue in grosse some errors of the time wherein they liued never apprehending in particular the scope meaning of them so yet is it no way safe for vs to make our forefathers our rule of faith In the Church cōsisting of the Iewes before Christs comming into the world the holy Prophets of God were so farre from making their forefathers a rule to follow as that to the contrary we shal finde nothing more familiar with them then to warne the people of God That they walke not in the ordinances of their fathers t Psal 78.8 Not to be as their forefathers a faithlesse stabborne generation a generation that set not their heart aright c. and to like purpose in sundry places But for resolution of this point it is our part to follow the direction of Saint Cyprian that holy Martyr of the Church u Lib. 2. Epist 3. If Christ onely bee to bee heard not to listen what any man before vs hath thought fit to be done but what Christ hath done who is before all for that wee are not to follow the custome of men but the truth of God My masters of Rome if there be no remedy will assent to this position of Saint Cyprian marry then you must giue them leaue to begge and assume this truth of God to bee the proper inheritance of the Bishop and Church of Rome but if you shall deale so vnfriendly with them as to presse them to shew their evidence they wil trouble you with much discourse but in the end for your satisfaction this answere must content you or none at all dixit Ecclesia themselues will tell you so The Pastors of the prosent Church of England will likewise make claime of this truth of God to rest with them but herein they wil deale more ingeniously with you then the other they will desire you to beleeue them no farther in this point then by plaine demonstration out of Gods holy word they shall be able to make good their claime In this confusion and difference betweene our teachers pretending of either side to haue the Church and truth of God and yet impossible but that in so direct a contrarietie as resteth betweene them of one side they must needs abuse vs possibly deare Mother you will aske what meanes are left for vs that are but learners in the schoole of Christ to discerne betweene them To censure their doctrine by their liues and actions were an vncertaine way a reason whereof wee learne from Saint Chrysostome an anciēt Father of the Church x Homil. 49. in Matt. oper imperf Because whatsoever kinde of holines the servants of God haue in truth the servants of Satan may have in likenes for the divell hath his that be meeke and humble that be chast and giue almes that fast and doe every good deed which God hath appointed for the salvation of mankinde and these formes of godlines hath the Divell brought in to seduce vs that a confusion being made betweene good and counterfeit simple men which know not the difference betweene goodnes indeed and goodnes in shew while they seeke the good servants of God might light vpon the Divels seducements Of this mind are likewise the learned of the Church of Rome y Part. 6. pag. ●9 You know saith Master Harding in his confutation of Bishop Iewels Apologie it is no good argument to reason from manners to the doctrine who would not hisse and trample you out of the schooles if you make this argument The Papists liues be faultie Ergo their teaching is false I know that howsoever my master of Rome like not as you see to haue their doctrine measured by the line of their liues and actions yet themselues will offer crooked measure in this kind there is nothing more familiar with them in their publike writings or private discourse with their schollers that admire them then to traduce and vilifie the Pastors of the Church of England of whom certainly many there haue beene and are of excellent merit and example in the Church and no doubt but some in so great a number may be found scandalous in their places who can expect no other but a feareful judgement in the end But if this were an argument wee need not seeke for proofe from any adverse to the Church of Rome but from their own records as for instance in one I pray you deare Mother note what Aventine a learned historian of their owne discloseth z Annal. lib. 6. in initio The Pope setteth over the flocke of Christ goates wolues lustfull persons adulterers ravishers of Virgins and Nunnes cookes muleters thieues bankers vsurers drones game hunters lecherous perfidious periured ignorant asses He committeth the sheep to wolues and hypocrites which only provide for their own bellies Nay hee setteth boyes and wantons to rule the lambes I am ashamed to say what manner of Bishops we have with the revenews of the poore they feede their hounds horses whoores they quaffe they loue the fly learning as infection c. thus farre the Historian But my masters of Rome will