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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	church_n	faith_n	tradition_n	5,437	5	9.2161	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13629	The reasonablenesse of wise and holy truth: and the absurditie of foolish and wicked errour	Terry, John, 1555?-1625.	1617 (1617)	STC 23912; ESTC S118354	27,907	56

indued with a sanctifying faith albeit they cannot produce the actions thereof no more then it is an absurditie to say that they are indued with a reasonable soule albeit the effects there of appeare not in them But Bellarmine himselfe happily doubting of the absurditie of these former doctrines in the last instance wil be sure to produce an absurd position indeed which is that God is the author of sinne which yet as he affirmeth is taught by Calvin But this is an impudent and a shamelesse slander refused and refuted also by that worthie seruant of God himselfe Wherefore Bellarmine hereby manifestly declareth that the doctrine of the Romish church whereof he is so stiffe a maintainer is absurd false vntrue therefore not taken out of the word of truth seeing it is not neither indeed cannot bee defended but by false slanders and lies For the law of God shall bee fulfilled without lies seeing wisdome is sufficient to a faithfull mouth Eccl. 34. 8. And verily that all the particular doctrines of the Church of Rome are vnreasonable and absurd and therefore vntrue by Bellarmines owne rule vntrue it may be iustified in them all but at this time I will giue instance only in some of their particular doctrines which concerne the word of God the Sacraments Prayer Faith And first concerning the word of God the Church of Rome absurdly teacheth that it is delivered vnto vs partly in the Scriptures and partly by tradition For if it bee an absurd thing for a wise and provident Father to deliuer his last will and testament partly in writing and partly without it is much more absurd to ascribe any such action vnto the most wise and provident God Secondly if it be an absurd thing for a father to interdict any of his childrē to get a coppie of his last will and testament wherein some great legacy is giuen vnto him and some speciall duties are required at his hands then it is more absurd to avouch that God doth interdict all his children of the Laitie the hauing of the bookes of the old new Testament in the which so great legacies are bequeathed vnto them and so many speciall duties are required at their hands Thirdly if it be an absurd thing that a wise and louing father should make his last will and testament in a language vnknown to his children seeing he maketh it to this end even to make knowne to all and every of them what portion and legacie hee bestoweth vpon them and what dutie hee requireth at their hands then much more absurd is it to avouch that our heavenly father making his wil and testament to the same end would haue the vnderstāding thereof kept close from any of his children vnder the locke key of a strange language Fourthly seeing every wise father hath a speciall care to set downe his mind in his will and testament in plaine and cleere words that so he may take away all iust occasion of discord and dissention among his children it is absurd to imagine that the God of peace and loue would set downe his mind in the bookes of the old and new Testament in darke and obscure tearmes and in phrases of such a doubtfull and ambiguous signification that like a nose of wax they may be bowed as wel this way as that way and so minister occasion of discord and strife which he therein so straightly and severely interdicteth And verily as it is an absurd thing to avouch that the light of the sunne is darke because sore eies cannot well behold it blind cannot apprehend it at al so is it more absurd to avouch that the holy Scripture being a light that proceedeth from Christ the sonne of righteousnes Ap. 12. 1. is darke and obscure because the sore eyes of some mens sicke minds are offended with it and the blind mindes of other that are starke dead in their sins cannot apprehend it at all Fiftly seeing it is an absurd thing to thinke that any person in a manuary craft can become a good Artisan vnlesse he vnderstand the particular rules thereof and the reasons of such workes that are to be wrought thereby it is no lesse absurd to determine with the Church of Rome that a blind and a colliar-like faith can make a true faithfull man and a good intent can make a good worke when the party vnderstandeth not the particular doctrines of faith nor the severall reasons whereby a good worke may bee done rightly acceptably vnto God For is it not absurd as Chrysostome saith that a Physitian a Tanner a Cloth-worker and all other craftsinen shall be able to stand in defence of their arts and a Christian shall not be able to giue a reason of his faith Whereas these arts neglected bring losse only to our temporalties the contempt of the other bringeth damage to our soules Yet saith he such is our madnesse that wee imploy all our thoughts vpon the former and little regard the necessary most strong fortifications of our salvation albeit wee bee commanded to bee ready to giue an answer to every one that should aske vs a reason of our faith also to haue the word of God dwelling in vs most plentifully Chryf hom 16. in Ioh. Sixtly if we thinke it absurd to trust another mans telling in the receipt of mony or another mans eie in the feeding of our horse or another mans tast in the food of our owne bodies It is more absurd to receaue from our teachers the heauenly coine of faith hope loue vpon their bare word or to trust his eies and tast in the food of our soules by receauing and approuing all doctrines deliuered by them vnto vs without all examination and triall So S. Chrysostome It is an absurd thing in the receipt of mony not to trust another but to tell it our selues and in matters of farre greater moment to content our selues with another mans bare word especially whereas we haue a most exact ballance squire and rule even the determination of the divine lawes Chryf hom 13. in 2. ep ad Cor. Lastly is it not most absurd that a translation made by some which were not inspired guided therein by the spirit of God should be commanded to be receaued by all as only authenticall to be preferred before the text it selfe set down in the bookes of the Canonicall Scripture penned in the Hebrew Greek tongues by the Prophets Apostles which were immediatly inspired and guided in that very action by the speciall motion of the vnerring spirit of God 2. Pet. 1. 20. 21. Is it not I say absurd that all truth most purely set downe by such notaries as were immediately thereto designed by God should not be so well preserued in their register bookes from all errors and corruptions by divine providence as in the writings of any other which were not immediatly by God designed therevnto For is water more cleere in the streame where it

may gather mud then in the Dulcius ex ipso fente bibuntur aqu● most pure fountaine it selfe Hence spring errors saith S. Cyprian while men repaire not to the originall veritie nor the head is sought after nor the doctrine of our heavenly master is observed Cyp. de simpl praelat Sccondly to come to the doctrines of the Church of Rome concerning the Sacraments Is it not absurd that the bare pronouncing of a few words should consecrate a Sacrament and that a Sacrament should giue grace by the worke wrought albeit the words themselues bee not vnderstood nor the vses and ends for the which Sacraments were ordained Tell mee saith S. Chrysostome O thou foolish or absurd Priest doth the vertue of the word of God consist in the forme of the letters or in the vnderstanding of the sense Chrys hom 43. in Mat. Verily the Apostle teacheth that the word of God profiteth not vnlesse it be mingled with faith in them that heare it Heb. 4. 2. that is vnlesse it be so deliuered that the hearers minds may be instructed and edified thereby and so faith may be either begotten or at least strengthned in them And so doth S. Austine teach both concerning the word and the Sacraments also From whence commeth this power saith hee that water doth touch the body cleanse the soule but by meanes of the word and that not because it is vttered but because it is beleeued For in the word the vanishing sound is one thing and the remaining power another This is the word of faith which we preach Aug. in Ioh. hom 80. And againe The faith of the Sacraments doe iustifie not Fides Sacra●●torum iustisicat non sacraments the Sacraments themselues And therefore saith hee in the Sacraments wee must not regard what they are but what they signifie Aug. cont Max. l. 3. cap. 22. For as in the Iewish sacrifices so in these our Christians Sacraments God doth not require the worke wrought but the reasons and ends for the which it is wrought Tertull. l. 3. cont Marc. Secondly it is not absurd that a Sacrament which of the very worke wrought as they say giveth grace should hinder grace giuen in another sacramēt as they affirme of marriage and of their holy orders As if one grace could disgrace another or one instrument Subordinata 〈◊〉 pugnant ordained to giue grace could resist the efficacie and power of another Thirdly was not their ancient order of baptising of Bels an absurd disorder As if Christ had shed his blood for the purging of the sinnes of Bells had ordained baptisme to giue to them his heavenly grace But to leaue baptisme and to come to the Lords supper what a Chaos of absurdities doe they bring in about the same First whereas the Scripture in plaine words avoucheth that our blessed Saviour at the first institution thereof tooke bread and wine in their essence and substance to make them the mysticall signes of his body and bloud they say that he transubstantiated them into the very substance of his body blood left their accidences only to be the outward signes in the sacrament Whereas Sacraments if they had not acertaine resemblance with the things whereof they are Sacraments they could not be sacraments at all and beare the name of the things themselues which Exijsdem nutrimu● sumu● Arist ex ijsdem nascimur pascimur Bern. Accidens non transit à s●biecto in subiectum Accidentis esse est inesse they resemble Aug. ad Bonif. ep 23. Now what resemblance can there bee betweene the accidents of bread and wine and the true and reall body and bloud of Christ Can these accidents nourish our bodies that they may resemble the nourishment of our soules by the body and bloud of Christ And is it not absurd that these accidents being separated from their subiects must not onely retaine their being but also subsist by themselues Surely it were fit that these mens bodies were fed with accidents which feed mens soules with such absurd fancies Now concerning Christs body blood which is the inward grace in this sacrament how many absurdities also doe they avouch First they will haue the very same body and blood daily to bee made of the substance of bread and wine through the pronunciation of fiue words by the mouth of a Priest which was but once made of the substance of the Virgin Mary by the operation of the holy Ghost Secondly they will haue it still here in earth which is ascended vp into heaven Yea they will haue it here to bee daily eaten with our bodily mouthes which is not onely an absurd and an inhumane impietie in the iudgement of S. Austine de doct christ l. 3. c. 10. but hath been an occasion to Insidels to condemne Christians for the wickedst monsters that were in all the whole world for that they were not ashamed to say that they daily devoured their Lord and God Thirdly they teach that the body of Christ which is a true naturall body is in their masse vncircumscribed without any dimensions and the same in heauen circumscribed and hauing dimensions Lastly they teach that Christs body here is not limited in space or place but that it is so in heavē and therefore is in heauen a true body but not here in earth For as Austine saith take away from a body space or place and it shall be no where or in no place and if it bee no where it is not at all But all these absurdities they thinke they may cure with this salue for that all these things are and may bee still done by the miraculous hand and power of God But Austine refuseth this plaister as not fit for this sore For as hee teacheth Sacraments may haue honour as being religious but they doe not worke astonishment as being miraculous For they are such meanes as God hath appointed to confirme the faith of such as already beleeue and not to convert vnbeleeuers for the which end miracles are ordained 1. Cor. 14 22. And verily if these workes were miraculous they should be such as might be first apprehended by sense that from thence they might enter into the conscience But these which they call miraculous works are not apprehended by sense as sense it selfe doth testifie sufficiently Thirdly concerning prayer First is it not absurd that publike prayers vnto which a publike assent should be giuen by the people should be made in a tongue not vnderstood of the people For For as the Apostle saith VVhen thou blessest with the spirit viz. in a tongue vnknowne how shall he that occupieth the roome of the vnlearned say amen at thy giuing of thankes seeing hee knoweth not what thou saist 1. Cor. 14. 16. Secondly is it not absurd that private prayers should bee commanded to bee made in a tongue vnknowne to him that maketh them and therefore cannot vnderstand for what he himselfe prayeth For should any one present a