Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	apostle_n	church_n	elder_n	5,779	5	10.2377	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14050	The hunting of the fox and the wolfe because they make hauocke of the sheepe of Christ Iesus.; Huntyng of the romyshe wolfe	Turner, William, d. 1568.; Knox, John, ca. 1514-1572.	1565 (1565)	STC 24357; ESTC S101281	45,226	72

be made againste the vntollerable number of Wolues which not onely burry and suppresse the seede of gods word and destroy it for a time wherewith mans soule ought to be fedde but also kill mens bodyes by open tyranny Foster Let vs heare your iudgement how this matter might be brought to passe Hunter Ye must in making an acte for this matter follow a good phisitian which not onely healeth the present disease that vexeth the sicke man but after that he hath healed him geaueth counsell and appointeth him a diet as if he will keepe it the sicke shall not fall in his olde disease againe Euen so must you play the phesitians vnto your mother the common welth of Englande yee must not onely deliuer England of these wolues that yee haue nowe but also prouide that when as these are gon there rise no mo of the same sort in their places afterwardes Foster How would ye ridde the realme of all these would ye kill them all or banishe them out of the land Hunter I woulde not kill them althoughte I knowe well that some of them woulde kill me But me thinke it were well done first to put all the popish byshops of Englande downe and to assaye if all these that are now Wolues both byshoppes and other might be brought to right sheepeheardes Those that woulde be right sheepeheards I would that they should continue in the office of sheepeheards and that they should be muche made of and haue their liuinges encreased if they weare not great ynough But I would on the other parte that all they that will not parte from their woluishnesse shoulde eyther be banished out of the realme or els that al their teeth should be pulled out and put out of office and casten into the Tower least they should doe any more harme abroad Foster But when as all these are eyther banished or els put out of office and put vp in cages howe will yee prouide that wee shall haue no moe Wolues in time to come Hunter First ye must prouide that there be moe schooles in England and that there be better prouision for the S24357 tech.take2.sgmniuersities that the realme may haue ynough scollers that ar learned to make shepeheardes of And then must ye prouide thorow out all England that euery parson and vicar haue an honest liuing able to finde an honest man Or els a well learned man which hath cost his father other friendes verye muche money and hath taken long and greate payne for his learning will leuer bee a curtier or a carter then a poore beggerly parson or vicare and not to haue where with to buye him bookes and to find him and his houshold withall Foster Howe is it possible to bring it to passe that in euery parishe in England shal be liuing ynough for all the sheepeheards that are there And if there be not sufficient lyuings in all places for the pastors then after your reasoning there shall alwayes some Wolues remaine namely there where as as it were in a wildernes the sheepeheardes whiche shoulde driue awaye the Wolues can get no lyuing Hunter This may be brought to passe thus Let all the Parsonages S24357 tech.take2.sgmicarages and all pensions and other like thinges whiche at anye time haue belonged to anye parishe church are now taken awaye by what so euer means be restored vnto the parish churches againe that the pastors may haue to liue on whether they be in gentelmens hands or byshoppes or belong vnto Cathedrall churches or belong to the Queene or any other Person within the realme of England or Ireland And if this woulde not serue I woulde the fourthe part of the byshoppes lyuings should be geuen to the pastors to make them vp honest liuinges withall Foster It shal be more easy to pul out the mace out of Hercules hande then to get the fatte parsonages out of their handes that haue them nowe Hunter Al they that are right masse hating gospellers which defie Simonie and would haue the wolues out of England would be glad to depart with such liuings as they hau bought by ignoraunce not knowing that the Pope had stollen nay rather robbed and taken by tyranny all such liuinges from Christes churche as he hath giuen to his couled Cannons and hodeded papistes It will be hard to get them out of the masse louing gentelmens hands which haue such an opinion in the Pope that they thinke that he had auctoritye to robbe the Pastores of theire liuingse and to giue them vnto his carnall Cannons or vnto mumbling Monkes and to whome he list But if these church robbers for so I call them that bye that thing which they know is stolēl from Christes church and wil not deliuer it vp vnto the church againe that which they haue bought and receiued of that robber the Pope will not restore them againe let them be compelled therto by an acte of parliament or if yee be to weake in the parliament house to compell them then let all the reste of the Churche excommunicate them and take them for theeues churche robbers When as the Churche is restored vnto her righte againe if that they that haue the patronages and giftes of benefites might giue them to whō they list then would they for money set in wolues as they had wont to doe of late and so were we in as euill c●ase almost as wee were in before Therfore all they that haue any patronages or giftes of benefices must giue them vp vnto the churches to whom the presētation and chosing of their pastors doth belong For I read that this auctoritye that gentelmen and Byshoppes haue now came from the Pope who granted alwayes the gift of the benefice vnto him that eyther builded the Churche or suffered it to be builded on his ground In the primatiue Churche the hole congregation chused the pastors and that by voyces and some time by lottes as ye may see in the firste of the Acts of the Apostles and in the xiiij In the first of the actes Matchias and Ioseph were presented or set vp by the hole church and Matthias was chosen by the falling of the lottes In the xiiij of the acts the Apostles with the church made elders in euerye congregation by voices And in the primatiue church this matter was long kept as both olde storieo and auncient writters beare witnes Foster The cōmon sort of people is a wyld beast with many heads therfore if the people should haue the chosing of their pastors we should not only haue many mad pastors but some time great fightting Hunter The cōmon people in deede whiche is not indued with the spirite of God is as it were a wyld beast with many heades But the common people which is baptised in the name of Christe and hath the spirite of God is more like to chuse an honest shepeheard then a blind byshoppe or couetous carle that wil let no man haue the benefice except he pay much for