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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	contain_v	scripture_n	tradition_n	3,414	5	9.4390	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70537	The character of the true church In a sermon preach'd at the French church in the Savoy, upon these words, How goodly are they tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel, Numb. XXIV. v. 5. By A. D'Astor de Laussac, formerly a prior and an archdeacon of the church of Rome.	Dastor de Laussac, Antoine.	1700 (1700)	Wing L623C; ESTC R221680	22,752	35

sole Interpreter of the truths therein contain'd and the infallible judge of controversies on that occasion The Religion that protests against the authority which the Romish Ministry has assum'd over the Scripture looks upon the Word of God as the only rule of the Christian Faith and gives the Scripture so great an authority over the Ministry that Christianity is no longer liable to its decisions than as they are conformable to Divine Revelation The authority which this Supream Minister has assum'd over the world of God has by degrees alter'd the purity of the Faith by adding to or taking from what Christ had establish'd whereas the authority which the word of God has re-assum'd over the Ministry has re-establish'd the purity of that Faith which Christianity enjoy'd in the golden days of the Church Hence arises the diversity of Communions one of which pulls up out of the field of the Lord what the other had sown from this opposition proceeded the animosities of the Church of Rome against the Protestants But Christ has taken care to comfort his Church in this distress it labours under telling it withal that he had been hated first Reformation is for no other reason odious but because it roots up those plants our Heavenly Father had not planted and pulls down from the heavenly edifice what had been built with wood hay and stubble 1 Cor. 3. 12. If the Ministry using the authority assum'd had only set up some new curious doctrine interwoven with human opinions I own it won'd have been hard for the purity of saith to have born with it but yet rather than break unity it wou'd have been necessary to have waited till the Lord had try'd every mans work Ibid. v. 13 as St Paul has exprest it But no less than the Church it self was aim'd at No other foundation says St Paul can any man lay but that which has been laid viz. Jesus Christ 'T is not only the death of Christ his resurrection his ascension and sitting at the right hand of God that are the foundation of the Church all these mysteries wou'd have been needless had they been unknown and they had been unknown that not God spoke by his Prophets by Jesus Christ and his Apostles Now the word of God wherein are set forth all these mysteries has been the seed of the Faith and Faith having subjected Reason to its authority has been the foundation of the Church And this is its character set forth by Christ himself when he said Mat. 7.24 Whosoever hears my sayings and doth them I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock whereas he that hears and doth them not 〈◊〉 v. 26. shall be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand Whence it clearly appears that the true and only foundation of Christian Religion was the subjecting of human understanding to the word of God Now to establish a Church meerly upon the authority of a Ministry that sets us for a rule of Faith what is rather grounded upon tradition than upon revelation is building a house upon the sand because 't is no more than to hear the word of God and not to be conformable to its anthority to lay another foundation than what has been laid 'T was then necessary to find out another principle to return to the original foundation of the Church that is to look upon Holy Writ as the only rule of Faith and the only foundation of the authority of that Ministry Christians are to be led by Nay it seems evident that Faith coming from hearing and hearing from the Word there is so great an affinity between the word of God and Faith that the faithful's submission to the authority of the Scripture is one of those truths which Reason and Revelation do not more clearly prove than every Christians natural suggestion The being of a God is a truth resulting from a natural instinct 'T is a natural instinct in Christianity that there is a Church and in that Church generally taken 't is a natural notion that the faithful must be rul'd by the word of God What occasion'd that numberless train of false Gods among the Pagans but that natural notion man always carried along with him of some true Divinity from whom he deriv'd his being life and motion Whence comes it in Christianity that all Hereticks have been seen to give their Sect the name of a Church but because there never was any Christian that own'd Christ for the Saviour of the world but was sensible there was a Church wherein the faithful might attain Salvation and why was there never any Heretick in all these suppos'd Churches but what endeavour'd to authorize his opinions by the Scripture This is such a natural notion as cannot but convince any reasonable mind that Christians must have the word of God for the rule of their faith since by that same word they have faith convey'd to them And if in Morals Hypocrisie is a homage Vice pays to Virtue it may be said in Religion that that affectation in Hereticks of being grounded upon the Scripture is an homage Error pays to the Truth whose original source and infallible witness is in that Holy Word it being to the Church of Christ what the mercy-seat whence were pronounc'd the oracles of God was to Israel of old How cou'd we judge better of the Church of Christ than by the model himself has left us Thou art Peter Mat. 1.18 and upon this rock will I build my Church he does not say upon thee Peter but upon the rock that is upon that Christ Simon had but just confess'd because the Church cou'd neither be founded upon the person nor upon the Ministry of St Peter but upon the confession that Apostle had made of Christ who is the fundamental Stone of the Spiritual Building Christ does not say here thou shalt build my Church for man is not able to build the Church of God but I will build my Church because the character that distinguishes the Church of Christ from all such as might usurp that name is that Christ is the foundation of it and the Master-builder in this Spiritual Edifice no other hand must be seen but that of Christ that is his will his power his spirit and the authority of his word And tho St Peter and the other Disciples have been associated to that great work yet 't is Christ's hand alone that has wrought all by them They indeed preach'd but Christ converted they wrought Miracles but 't was through his name they baptiz'd but Christ perform'd the regeneration in a word 't was Christ edify'd his Church How goodly are thy tents O Jacob This is certainly the character of Christ's Church since it receives no other truth but that he brought upon earth no other solemnities but those he consecrated no other Sacraments but those he constituted no other expiatory Sacrifice but that of his death nor any

at liberty to sift the ore from the dress An instance of this we have in the old law Eli a Priest of Israel was cast off in the sight of God the Priesthood was transferr'd upon Samuel's head and yet Eli and his Children exercis'd the functions of it till such time as God had prescrib'd Samuel to officiate in who liv'd in the Temple tho neither Eli nor the people knew any thing of what God design'd him for Thus he left the Scribes and Pharisees in Moses's Chair Thus he left the Arian Bishops in the Chair of Orthodox Christians and if he has preserv'd the true Israelites under the Ministry of the Law faithful Christians under the Arian Ministry may not he have preserv'd the purity of Primitive Christians under the corruption of the Roman Ministry And if God permitted at last the division of this Ministry under which he had till then preserv'd his Church can any one doubt of the same individual Church being still in one of those two Ministries that has reviv'd the purity of the Faith which was in the primitive Christians without being drawn away by that Flood of human traditions wherein Ambition Interest and Superstition had a greater share than Religion Can any one doubt of Christ's Church's being in that Ministry whereof the particular character is the grounding of Christian Faith and Worship upon what Christ and his Apostles edify'd If God suffer'd Christianity for many ages to be bury'd in ignorance and superstition 't was a just punishment which he was willing to inflict upon an unfaithful Spouse whom he had in a manner left to herself for despising his Laws He had establish'd his Church in the early days of Christianity after having left Mankind a long time involv'd in the clouds of Idolatry and Jewish traditions he re-establish'd it once more by opening the eyes of the Christian World to see the a buses and vanities of human traditions and made it unexpectedly shine forth like the Morning Sun rising all of a sudden from the bosom of a dismal night that so many ages of obscurity had been forming how great soever the corruption of Christianity had been yet the Gates of Hell did not prevail against it But was it not enough for Almighty God to have preserv'd a single Spark of that sacred Fire that was almost extinguish'd upon the Altar of the Church Was it not enough for him to have kept some hidden Fountain of that Water that springs forth into Life Eternal But that great God who can give life and take it away as he pleases who leads to the chambers of death and is able to bring back seem'd to have suffer'd the Gates of Hell to prevail a while against his Church only to make that same Church more gloriously to triumph over them He suffer'd it so to be that the strength of his arm might be as conspicuous in the re-establishing of his Church as in the setting of it up If the progress of Reformation be but consider'd which all of a sudden open'd the eyes of the world to the vanities of human traditions who can doubt but that it was the hand of God alone that wrought it That the number of Gospel-Ministers has been seen to multiply whilst the Ministry was loaden with Riches Honours and Dignities is not at all to be wondered at the spirit of the world alone is sufficient for that but that the number of Gospel-Ministers has been seen to multiply when the Ministry was destitute of temporal advantages nay when to desire the Ministry was to desire an occasion of Martyrdom this is not certainly the Spirit of the World 't is the Spirit of God alone who induces men to embrace such a party That the Christian people have been seen wholly addicted to the practice of human Traditions and Superstitions is the consequence of the corruption of so many successive ages of ignorance But that all of a sudden part of Christendom has been seen to awake from a deep lethargy to embrace a worship wholly spiritual destitute of all worldly pomp closely pursu'd by envy and persecution in a word to make up so numerous a Communion tho it were by some accounted folly and to others prov'd a shunbling block sure it must be the virtue of his spirit and the efficacy of his word that ●…ound the advancement of the new reviv'd Church as it did that of the primitive one Who can sufficiently admire the conduct of divine wisdom which has preserv'd two Ministries so directly opposite in the bosome of the same Church as it formerly preserv'd Eli and Samuel in the same Temple or rather who can choose but admire the wisdom of God in preserving in the bosom of one and the same Church these two Ministrys as it formerly preserv'd Jacob and Esau in the bosom of one common Mother This is like the two Nations that shared the World between them This is something very nearly resembling the division made between these two Brothers wherein the transferring the Birth-right upon Jacob stirs up in Esau an implacable hatred against him Herein appears the wisdom of God who having observ'd how the primitive Church was faln into corruption in the midst of Peace exposes the reviv'd Church to continual persecutions to keep up its purity and distinguish the spirit that animates it from the spirit of the Ministry that uses all endeavours to oppress it In the Communion of Rome I observe a Ministry that banishes Christians from the Church of Christ meerly for being conformable to his word a Ministry that uses a temporal power to suppress Christians whose only crime consists in preferring the Scripture before Tradition Is this the spirit of Christ who made his word the sole judge of controversies Is this the spirit of St Paul who pronounces cursing against the Angels and against himself if he preach any thing but the Gospel Is this the spirit of St Peter who meekly submits to what remonstrances and oppositions St Paul us'd against him Or is it not rather generally indiscreet zeal of the Apostles when they wou'd have had fire to come down from Heaven not knowing what Spirit they were of Here I see Pastors dispers'd faln Victims to the authority of the opposite Ministry who animated with the Spirit of St Paul say after this great Apostle You think your selves wise in Christ and we are accounted as fools for the glory of Christ you are strong and we are weak You are in pomp and magnificence and we for preaching the Gospel are forc'd to wander up and down expos'd to hunger thirst and nakedness You curse us and we return blessings you excommunicate us and we pray for you Is it the spirit of the world that makes this Pastor take up with so vile and despicable a condition No that inspires nothing but vanity 't is not the spirit of the flesh that inspires nothing but softness 't is not the spirit of the Devil it breathes nothing but vengeance Now

highest Profanation but if forbid of an abominable Idolatry How comes the Gospel to be so silent in this matter Why did the Holy Ghost who inspir'd the Apostles with all the fundamental truths conceal such important ones from them What! is God so jealous under the Mosaical dispensation of the methods the people of Israel were to use in his worship as to prescribe the very least ceremonies nay the smallest vessels they should use in their Sacrifices and can it be thought under the dispensation of the Gospel that Christ who came to teach men how to worship in purity and in truth and establish a Religion far more excellent than that of the Law should have left it to tradition alone to set rules for the most essential part of Christian worship The Church then is not of Christ's not of his Apostles setting up those that succeeded after the establishment of the Faith are they that laid the foundation or Christian Religion But how does this appear probable Except the Lord build the house Psal 128. they labour in vain that build it Let them insist never so much upon the antiquity rank and profound learning of their Doctors that taught these particular opinions in Christ's Religion there must be seen at least Christ's hand in those of the Gospel Ministers that is the will of Christ and the doctrine of the Gospel must be the foundation of faith and piety 1 Pet. 1. All flesh is as grass saith St Peter and all the glory of man as the flower of grass The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away but the word of the Lord endureth for ever And this is the word which is preach'd unto you by the Gospel 'T is that holy word which has always been the foundation of the Christian faith 't is the only rule of faith in the Church of Christ When Religion was upon its decline tradition took place of the Gospel it became the foundation of faith by means of the authority the Ministry had assum'd over the word of God but when the purity of Christianity was re-establish'd the word of God was reinstated in all its prerogatives which the Lord had given it over the Ministry and it may be said of the Reformation what the Prophet said of the establishment of the Church The same stone which the builders refus'd is become the head stone in the corner Psal 118. This is the Lords doings and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the day which the Lord has made we will rejoyce and be glad in it The authority of the word of God is undoubtedly that corner stone of the spiritual building whereby you are reunited with the primitive Christians since you believe nothing but what they believ'd 'T is God Almighty himself that hath purify'd his Church by restoring it to that order he had at first establish'd The Son of God being sent into the world to enlighten all men and the Holy Ghost which Christ sent to his Apostles have secretly reform'd in the Christian Faith all that was not established by the Gospel God has restored the purity of the Gospel to its lustre and that ought to be the subject of your joy since persecution that attends it serves to set off the glorious character of the Church of Christ and that 's the second head of this discourse Balak thinks to compass his designs upon Israel and rid himself more easily of them if he can but get Balaam to curse them he makes him look on all sides but the more he strives to curse them the more he finds himself constrain'd to bless them Thus the Church of Rome tries all ways to render the Protestant Religion odious they expose it in its Reformation Reformers Temper and in its forsaking as they pretend the ancient Ministry But as Balaam with-held by the spirit of God was proof against all the crafty contrivances of Balak so a Christian who is enlighten'd by the Gospel will always look upon the Reformed Church as Balaam did upon Israel 't is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the Nations Numb 23. The Lord their God is with them and the shout of a King is among them In a word he will cry out notwithstanding all worldly designs and Polices How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel This is to be understood of a Christian inlightned by the Spirit of God thoroughly convinc'd of the maxims of the Gospel and that thinks seriously on his Salvation for among Christians who only bear the name of such and whose Religion is their Interest there are many who know the truth to be in that Church Christ has reviv'd but some forsake it because 't is forsaken in their native Country others persecute it because 't is persecuted by the world But what matters it if Religion be obscure to worldly-minded-men who shut up their eyes to the truth when they may be thereby expos'd to misery and contempt what matters it if it be oppos'd by such Christians as find it their particular interest and advantage to be animated with a mistaken zeal 't would be very unjust to judge of a Church by the opinion the world conceives of it for whether we consider the Church as expos'd to the contempt and reproaches the world strives to over-cloud it with or rais'd to lustre and splendour in spite of the world itself those very clouds are as bright and glorious as that glittering light and purity it shines with in the eyes of true Christians and herein do we see the oracle of the Prophet David accomplished there is a day that discovers to us another day and a night that discovers to us another night The beauty of the primitive Church is a day Psal 19.3 that discovers to us the excellency of the reviv'd Church the motives of hatred and persecutions Christ and the primitive Church have undergone form as it were a night that discovers to us the principle of disgraces and oppositions that over-power the Church wherein Christ has renew'd the purity of Faith which was in primitive Christians Who will not then admire the beauty of that reviv'd Church so conspicuous for its uniformity with the primitive Church And who will forsake that Church because 't is reviled by worldlings because 't is hated and persecuted in some parts of the world as Christ and the primitive Christians were This opposition the Church of Christ meets with in the world is one of the fairest strokes to set off its beauty 't is a Seal the Heavenly Father has sealed it with by a happy conformity with Christ Behold this Child said Simeon is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against Would not one think 〈…〉 he made a description of the reformed Church that having brought again Christianity to purity of Faith revives piety in some and stirs up envy