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A17308 Truth's triumph ouer Trent: or, the great gulfe betweene Sion and Babylon That is, the vnreconcileable opposition betweene the Apostolicke Church of Christ, and the apostate synagogue of Antichrist, in the maine and fundamentall doctrine of iustification, for which the Church of England Christs spouse, hath iustly, through Gods mercie, for these manie yeares, according to Christs voyce, separated her selfe from Babylon, with whom from henceforth she must hold no communion. By H.B. rector of S. Mathews Friday-Street. Burton, Henry, 1578-1648. 1629 (1629) STC 4156; ESTC S107077 312,928 398

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the Elect from in and to all ages past present and to come whose generall obiect though it be the whole Word of God yet the speciall obiect of it is Christ Iesus the word incarnate and the speciall promises of life made vnto vs of God in him Now by this which hath beene already said we may easily see the sequell and issue of all the rest of those priuiledges and markes that the Pontificians put vpon their Catholick Faith For seeing they admit of no other Faith in kinde than the Historicall we will easily yeeld vnto them that this their Faith may be and is in the very Deuils and Damned We will yeeld them also that their Faith being dead of it selfe and without forme or being and receiuing life forme and being from Charity may also vpon the losse of Charity become as well dead and vnformed againe as before it receiued life from Charity But whereas they say that this Faith dead as it is and being fruitlesse and without Charity yet is sufficient to make a man a Christian and a Beleeuer wee allow them this also thus farre that it may make them such Christians and Beleeuers as to send them to hell amongst the Deuils and Damned their fellow-Beleeuers as their fideles fornicarios adulteros molles musculorum concubitores fures c. their faithfull fornicators adulterers effeminate Sodomites and Catamites theeues and other such their Christian beleeuers whom by Trents owne confession their Faith excludes from the Kingdome of Heauen But this Faith of theirs being no other in kinde but that which is common with the damned to wit of it selfe dead and fruitlesse let them deuise neuer such precious wares to stuffe it withall as Charity Hope and the like to put life into it it will proue no more a liuing Faith than Michals Image with the pillow stuffed with Goates haire laide vnder the head of it proued a liuing man And so consequently it can neuer make a man such a Christian and Beleeuer as to bring him to the possession of Gods Kingdome But are they to be accounted Christians and Beleeuers that goe to Hell Yes surely as good as Romane-Catholickes for such onely they account their Christians and Beleeuers Well let them enioy their priuiledge In the meane time they must know that God hath another kinde of beleeuing Christians For as the Apostle saith As he is not a Iew that is one outwardly nor that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but hee is a Iew that is one within and Circumcision that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God So he is not a Christian that is one outwardly neither is that Baptisme which is outward on the flesh but hee is a Christian that is one inwardly and Baptisme that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God But the Romane-Catholicke Christian beleeuers are they that haue receiued their outward forme of Baptisme and professe themselues members of the Romane-Catholicke Church be they otherwise neuer so damnable in their liues What saith Bernard in his Sermon ad Pastores Neminem vestrum credo esse h●reticum omnes creditis c. I beleeue none of you is a hereticke you all beleeue one God in Trinity that Christ suffered and was buried that hee descended and ascended But doth this faith make a man a Catholicke By this faith the very Deuils should bee Catholickes for as St. Iames saith they beleeue and tremble But not that faith which is common with Deuils and men maketh a true Catholick but that only which is common to men with Angelicall spirits What faith is that That which worketh by loue So he Therefore by Bernards doctrine faith voyde of charity which is common with Deuils howsoeuer it may make a Romane-Catholicke and so saith Bernard it may the Deuill as well but a true Catholicke it cannot make St. Augustine also puts a maine difference saying Cum dilectione fides Christiani sine dilectione fides Daemonum the faith of a Christian is ioyned with loue the faith of Deuils is without loue Hee is therefore a Christian that hath such a faith as hath loue ioyned with it and consequently they are no Christians but rather of the number of Deuils as being members of the Deuill whose faith is without loue And the same Austine elsewhere plainly declareth who are the faithfull saying Corpus Christi est Ecclesia non ista aut illa sed toto orbe diffusa Tota autem Ecclesia constans ex omnibus fidelibus quia fideles omnes membra sunt Christi habet illud caput positum in coelestibus quod gubernat corpus suum etsi separatum est à visione sed annectitur charitate Totus Christus caput est corpus eius The body of Christ is the Church not this or that Church but diffused ouer the whole world And the whole Church consisting of all the faithfull in as much as all the faithfull are members of Christ hath that head now set in the heauenly places which gouerneth his body and although it bee separated from vision or sight yet it is knit vnto him by loue For whole Christ is the head and his body So we see St. Augustine confesseth none to bee faithfull but such as are the members of Christ nor any his members but the members of his body the Church nor Christs Church to be any one particular Church as the Romane-Catholicke Church but indeed the Catholicke Church spread ouer the whole world Now if none bee faithfull but such as are the members of Christ of his Church of his body Christ is the Sauiour of his body and not one of his members can perish yea not a haire of their heads shall perish how then are they members of Christ sith Christians sith faithfull that haue no part in that saluation whereof the whole body is partaker But such are members of Christ though not perfectly vnited as Trent saith Chapt. 7. and Vega commendo it But St. Augustine knew no such members of Christ. Although by a common appellation or account all Christians as being baptized are called Faithfull in as much as they haue receiued the character of Faith which is Baptisme as Augustine saith yet properly and in a strict sense none are true beleeuers but such as are indued with a true liuing holy iustifying Faith in Christ whereby they are perpetually and inseparably vnited vnto him as liuing members of the same body to reigne with him for euermore S● Saint Paul doth exemplifie this in describing a true Iew Hee is not a Iew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Iew that is one within and the Circumcision of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God St. Chrysostome saith Whence art thou made holy
they greatly triumph to proue the authority of the Church aboue the Scriptures Ego Euangelio non crederem ●isi●e Catholicae Ecclesiae c●●m●●eret authoritas that is I should not beleeue the Gospell vnlesse the authority of the Catholicke Church did moue me Now if we obserue the occasion of this saying of Augustine it will easily appeare that hee had no such meaning as to preferre the authority of the Catholicke Church before the authority of the holy Scriptures for then hee should with one breath contradict the whole tenure of all his writings wherein hee still aduanceth the authority of the Scriptures aboue all as irrefragable supreame and subiect to no authority Now the occasion of this speech of Augustine was this Manicheus a grand Heretique writes an Epistle to Augustine wherein he stiles himselfe Manichaeus Apostolus Iesu Christi prouidentia Dei Patris that is Manicheus the Apostle of Iesus Christ by the prouidence of God the Father Whereupon Augustine saith Haec sunt salubria verba de perenni ac vi●● fonte These are wholesome words from the eternall liuing fountain But with your good patience saith Augustine if it please you obserue what I require Non credo istum esse Apostolum Christi quaeso ne succenseatis maledicere incipiatis c. I doe not beleeue that this is an Apostle of Christ I pray you bee not angry and fall a reuiling for you know that I am resolued to beleeue nothing rashly that you say I aske therefore who this Manicheus is you will answer me an Apostle of Christ. I doe not beleeue it Now thou hast nothing what to say or doe for thou didst promise me the knowledge of the truth and now thou constrainest mee to beleeue that which I know not But haply thou wilt reade the Gospell vnto me and out of that thou wilt assay to proue the person of Manicheus Now if thou shouldst finde any man who as yet doth not beleeue the Gospell what wouldst thou doe if he said vnto thee I doe not beleeue it Ego vero Euangelio non crederem nisi c. For I should not beleeue the Gospell vnlesse the authority of the Catholicke Church did moue me Quibus ergo c. whom then I haue obeyed when they said Beleeue the Gospell why should I not beleeue them saying vnto me Doe not beleeue Manicheus Elige quid velis Choose which thou wilt If thou wilt say Beleeue the Catholickes they admonish mee to giue no credit to you Wherefore giuing credit to them I cannot but not beleeue thee if thou shalt say Doe not beleeue the Catholickes thou goest not the right way to compell me by the Gospell to the faith of Manicheus seeing I beleeued the Gospell it selfe being preached vnto mee by the Catholickes And so forth to this purpose Augustine pursueth his discourse So we see the question is about the truth of Manicheus his title calling himselfe an Apostle of Iesus Christ c. This hee obtrudes and thrusts vpon Augustine to giue credit to it Augustine and that worthily makes question of it Hee would haue him proue it by the Gospell Well But Manicheus foylteth in some counterfeit Gospell wherein he stiles himselfe an Apostle of Iesus Christ a Gospell that was neuer acknowledged for Canonicall Scripture But Manicheus will haue it receiued for Gospell How shall it be tryed Is it therefore Gospel because Manicheus saith it Or doth the Gospell depend vpon the testimony of one man No saith Augustine Pagan-Infidels are brought to receiue and beleeue the Gospell by the preaching of the Catholicke Church which hath from time to time kept the Canon of Scriptures intire without the mixture of counterfeit Gospels By this authority of the Catholicke Church to wit by the preaching of the Gospell by the Church Augustine himselfe when hee was a Manichee was wonne to the faith of the Gospell Hence it is that instancing himselfe for one that as yet beleeued not the Gospell hee saith Ego non crederem Euangelio c. I should not that is I if I were as once I was an vnbeleeuing Manichee I should not beleeue the Gospell vnlesse the authority of the Catholicke Church did moue me So that hee makes the comparison betweene the authority of the Catholicke Church and the authority of one man Manicheus The question is Whether Augustine if he were a neutrall beleeuer as yet neyther beleeuing that Gospell which Manicheus bringeth neuer heard of before nor that which the Catholicke Church preacheth and hath euer taught should rather bee induced by the peremptory authority of one sole man to beleeue a new Gospell than by the authenticke authority of the Catholick Church of Christ to beleeue the euerlasting Gospell of Iesus Christ comprehended in both the Testaments and perpetually receiued preserued professed preached and beleeued of the Catholicke Church from all ages In this case Augustine inclines cleaues to the authority of the Catholick Church And what true Catholicke doth not reuerence the authority of the Church of God bringing him to Christ by the preaching of the Gospell as the Samaritan woman brought her neighbour Citizens to Christ But being brought vnto Christ after they had heard him themselues they said to the woman Now we beleeue not because of thy saying for wee haue heard him our selues and know that this is indeede the Christ the Sauiour of the world So euery beleeuer may say I was first induced and as it were led by the hand and voice of the Church to beleeue the Gospell of Christ but after that I haue heard receiued and beleeued Christ himselfe speaking in the Scriptures I now beleeue not for the Church or any mans saying but for the authority of Christ and the Scriptures themselues As Augustine ingeniously saith to Paulina Nolo authoritatem meam sequaris vt c. I would not haue you follow my authority that you should therefore thinke it necessary to beleeue any thing because it is spoken by mee but beleeue eyther the Canonicall Scriptures or the truth that doth inwardly teach and giue testimony thereof For if a truth bee once confirmed by the euident authority of holy Scriptures to wit those which in the Church are called Canonicall it is without all doubting to be beleeued And in his third booke against Maximinus an Arrian Bishop disputing about the word Homousion Augustine saith Nec ego Nicenum nec tu debes Ariminense c. Neyther ought I to vrge the authority of the Nicene Councell nor you that of Ariminum for neyther am I bound to the authority of this nor you of that but both of vs are bound to the authorities of the Scriptures common witnesses to vs both and vnpartiall to eyther So let thing with thing cause with cause reason with reason contend Such was the Catholicke Doctrine of those times wherein Augustine liued that the authority of the Canonicall Scriptures was aboue all other authority eyther of Bishops
iustos haberi c. We are saith he to relye vpon this only certaine and stable foundation and for the same onely to beleeue that we are iustified before God that is accounted iust This is that precious treasure of Christians which who so findeth selleth all that he hath to buy it Thence it is that by experiment we see holy men who the greater proficients they proue in holinesse the lesse they please themselues and therefore doe so much the more perceiue they stand in neede of Christ and of his righteousnesse giuen vnto them and therefore they renounce themselues and relye onely vpon Christ. Neither doth this come to passe that becomming more holy they see lesse than before or are now more degenerous and base minded yea rather the more they grow in sanctity the more generous and quicke sighted they bee Wherefore becomming the sharper sighted they do the more looke into the weaknesse and slendernesse of their inherent sanctity and righteousnesse which they obserue to bee infected with many spots and speckes which doe so much the more offend their eyes the more sharpe sighted they grow and therefore they acknowledge that they are not to relye vpon any sanctity charity and grace inherent in them but to flye to Christ and to his grace giuen vnto them whereupon they wholly relye and repose themselues These and many other excellent sayings hath this Cardinall left recorded beseeming a learned godly and pious Diuine setting forth the true nature of the iustification of a sinner before God So that by the authority and testimony of this learned and iudicious Cardinall Gods wisedome and prouidence so disposing it it is euident that this doctrine of iustification which the Protestants teach and maintaine was not a new doctrine inuented by Luther but the same which the Catholicke Doctors and Diuines taught vntill Scotus and his Sectaries began to broach a new and contrary doctrine which this learned Cardinall by solid arguments from Scripture confuteth neuer created nor decreed for Catholicke vntill the Romane-Catholicke Councell of Trent CHAP. XI Of the Romane-Catholicke faith it selfe what kinde of faith that is which the Church of Rome admitteth as their Christian faith or the faith of Romane-Catholicke beleeuers BY that which hath beene already declared of the Romane-Catholicke doctrine touching the iustification of a sinner it is more than euident that they haue quite barred vp the beautifull gate of the Temple of Heauen blocked vp the way to saluation beset the Tree of life with their Seraphicall flaming sword of Anathema fire and fagot lest neuer a Mothers sonne of Adam should put forth his hand to taste of it and so liue for euer in the heauenly Paradise So that the Romish Doctors specially the Trent-Fathers are iust like those Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites which shut vp the Kingdome of Heauen and for all Peters pretended keyes take away the key of knowledge neither going in themselues nor suffering others to enter in Or they are like to the Philistims who stopped vp those Wels which Abraham had digged for his flockes filling them with earth and rubbish So these Romish Philistims enuying Isaacs riches the riches of Gods grace in the children of the promise Abrahams seede haue with the earth and rubbish of humane inuentions and of Satans Sophistry stopped vp those Wels of saluation which Abraham by faith had digged and found enioyed left also to his faithfull posterity to enioy to the worlds end And in stead therof they haue hewed to themselues Cisternes broken Cisternes that will hold no water hauing forsaken the Lord the fountaine of liuing waters as Ieremy speaketh But yet say that the Romane-Catholicke Church had not thus stopped vp the Wels of saluation but that as the promiscuous Samaritans who were a perfect type of the Popish Church for they meddled not with the Iewes the true Church they had a mixt Religion of the true God and of Idols false gods they had built a Temple in Mount Garizim not onely in imitation but in emulation and opposition to the Temple in Ierusalem So the Romish Church will not meddle with the true Christian professors and true Iehudahs praysers of God vnlesse it be by treachery and treason by powder and poyson fire and fagot and sword their Religion is mixt and so mixt as their Idols haue quite shouldred out the seruice of the true God and against Christ the true Temple whose Religion is Catholicke and spred ouer the whole world as Christ told the Samaritan woman they haue built an Antichristian Church vpon the Romane Hils whose imaginary foundation is Peters Chaire and whose gates are opened and shut with Peters keyes Say I say if as the Samaritans retained Iacobs Well intire so the Pontificians did preserue the Wels of saluation pure not hauing despitefully stopt them vp as the Philistims did Abrahams Wels yet as the woman of Samaria said to Christ The Well is deepe and thou hast nothing to draw withall so the Well of saluation is deepe what is there then to draw withall that as Esay faith yee may with ioy draw water out of the Wels of saluation This may therefore be fitly obiected to the Church of Rome which the Samaritan woman foolishly obiected to Christ The Well is deepe and thou hast nothing to draw withall Nothing yea nothing not so much as a small sheard to take water withall out of the pit as Esay speaketh For there is no line to reach no bucket to take the liuing waters out of Gods Well but onely Faith With this it was wherewith the Samaritan woman her selfe both drew and dranke of the true liuing water out of Iacobs true liuing Well and the Wel was Christ. With this Faith it was wherewith the woman with the bloudy issue drew the liuing water out of Christ which washed away the running bloudy issue of her sins For it was her faith that made her whole and that by Christs own testimonie With this faith it was that the blinde man in the Gospell went and washed in the Poole of Siloam yea in the soft running waters of Shilo Iesus Christ by vertue wherof he returned seeing But the Church of Rome doth not deny faith True Yea but euery faith will not reach this Well nor comprehend this Water let vs see therefore what that faith is which the Pontificians hold and whether it will hold water as we say And now are wee come to the maine point of the matter of our iustification as Soto confesseth that this doctrine of faith it selfe is the princeps Controuersia the head controuersie betweene the Pontificians and whom they call the Lutherans But as the same Soto saith ibid. Est lis haec de sola fide adeo tum à suis exordijs abstrusae tum ob diuturnam vtrinque pugnam obuoluta ac implexa vt ad eruendam veritatem vix nobis alicunde pateat aditus This controuersie of sole faith saith
There is one faith of all which hath one particle that a very small one concerning the promises Alas what a poore diminution is here Particula non pars is not this diminitiue enough but hee must put small yea perexigua very small vnto it and so leaue a very small not part but diminitiue particle for faith in the promises of God But Romane-Catholikes must bee content with this poore pittance of faith no otherwise beleeuing Gods promises but as other Histories reuealed in the Word as the Councell of Trent teacheth in her sixt Session and sixt Chapter But else she makes no mention at all of beleeuing in the promises of God and by faith applying them to our owne soules No the Church of Rome is of another spirit she wants that can did ingenuity to acknowledge this gracious mysterie of Christ and of the Gospell So that these Pontifician Romane-Catholickes place onely the truth of God and well too if they ioyned not their owne lying traditions as the generall obiect of faith namely as a true History to be beleeued As Soto commenting vpon the forenamed place of the Councell saith Ratio Christianis credendi est summa infallibilisque Dei veritas haec autem eadem perlucet in reuelatis omnibus siue ad Historiam pertineant siue ad Promissiones The reason inducing Christians to beleeue is the soueraigne and infallible truth of God and this same s●ineth in all those things that are reuealed whether they pertaine to the History or to the Promises But how doth he vnderstand the faith of these promises Sanè quas credimus saith hee non solum verè esse factas sed esse firmissimas quantum ex parte Dei nisi nos renitamur which promises indeed we beleeue that not only they were truely made but are most firme as touching Gods part vnlesse we resist But as for speciall Faith in beleeuing and applying the promises of God quòd non pertineat that it appertains not to Catholick Faith saith Soto is most easie to demonstrate Fides enim Catholica ex sola diuina assertione vel promissione pendet quod autem quisque aptus sit idoneus promisso beneficio suscipiendo ex humano sensu cooperatione etiam pend●t For saith he the Catholick Faith depends vpon Gods onely affirmation or promise but that any man may be apt or fit to receiue the benefit promised doth depend vpon the sense and also the cooperation of man And so he concludes Ergo huius Fides non est Catholica therefore this mans Faith is not Catholicke So that by Romane-Catholicke Doctrine a speciall Faith in the promises of God in Christ is not the Catholicke Faith for by Catholicke Faith they vnderstand a generall Faith such as is the Catholicke Faith of all Romane-Catholickes And hence it is also that they place Faith onely in the vnderstanding as assenting vnto the truth of God in his Word and not in the will in applying and apprehending the goodnesse and grace of God reuealed in the Word Now to cleare the truth in this point The Catholick Faith is so called not in respect of the generality of it as if iustifying Faith were onely a generall Faith or because the generall obiect of it is whatsoeuer is reuealed in the Word as a Historie but because the true Catholicke Faith is the Faith of all the Elect of all times to the end of the world and because this Faith comprehends all Faith in it For the true Catholicke Faith doth both credere Deum beleeue that God is and credere Deo beleeue that whatsoeuer is contained in the holy Word of God written is true and also credere in Deum beleeue in God that is in especiall beleeue the promises of God in Christ reuealed in the Gospell that they are not onely true in respect of God who promiseth but that they doe belong to euery beleeuer in Christ in particular As Saint Iohn saith speaking of the blessed estate of Gods children both here in that they are now the Sonnes of God and hereafter in the perfect vision of God Euery man that hath this hope in him purifieth himselfe euen as he is pure The Apostle Paul setting forth the nature of iustifying Faith in the example of faithfull Abraham hee bounds it mainely vpon the promise of God in Christ as the speciall obiect of Faith As Rom. 4. 13. The promise that Abraham should be the heire of the world was not to him or to his seede through the Law but through the righteousnesse of Faith for if they which are of the Law bee heires Faith is made voide and the promise made of none effect Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seede not to that onely which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham who is the father of vs all And vers 20. Hee staggered not at the promise of God through vnbeliefe but was strong in Faith giuing glory to God So wee see that the promise of God is the speciall obiect of iustifying Faith And hence it is that all true beleeuers who are the children of Abraham are called the children of the Promise Rom. 9. 8. They which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are counted for the seed heires of the Promise Heb. 6. 17. Yea the promises of God in Christ are the very sum of the Gospel as the Apostle declareth very amply in the third Chapter to the Galathians As vers 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would iustifie the Heathen through faith preached before the Gospell vnto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed So we see plainly that the speciall obiect of Faith is the Gospell of God and the Gospel of God is the promise of God in Christ. This was the summe of all Christs preaching The Kingdome of God is at hand repent yee and beleeue the Gospell And so Gal. 3. 22. the Apostle sweetly concludeth this heauenly Doctrine The Scripture hath concluded all vnder sin that the promise by faith of Iesus Christ might be giuen to them that beleeue Hence also was the Land of Canaan being a type of the Kingdome of Christ called the Land of Promise and Abraham and his sonnes coheires of the same Promise What Promise For hee looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. And by faith he waited for this promise vers 9. The Pontificians would faine haue that faith whose prayses are so predicated in that 11. Chapter to the Hebrewes to be vnderstood of their kinde of Catholicke faith to wit a generall historicall faith And they alledge the third Verse and the sixt Verse c. Vers. 3. Through faith wee vnderstand that the worlds were framed by the word of God Hence they conclude their Historicall faith And Vers.