Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	see_v	true_a	2,943	5	5.0760	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09291	Th'appellation of Iohn Penri, vnto the highe court of Parliament from the bad and iniurious dealing of th'Archb. of Canterb. & other his colleagues of the high commission: wherin the complainant, humbly submitting himselfe and his cause vnto the determination of this honorable assembly: craueth nothing els, but either release from trouble and persecution, or just tryall.; Appellation of John Penri, unto the highe court of Parliament.	Penry, John, 1559-1593.	1589 (1589)	STC 19602; ESTC S101168	33,056	58

reason wilbe because I hold it vnlawful for them to liue in popishe callings to be Lords ouer their bretheren to smother the trueth to rob Christ of his honor and his church of her libertie or to speake in their owne wordes because I dislike the gouernment of the church by L. Archb. and Lord Bb. established by the prerogatiue of hir majestie and the parliament Hereby in trueth declaring that in persecuting me a worm of the earth they are imployed in his cause with whom I feare me vnlesse they repent they shal haue their reward for speaking euill of the trueth For what else doe they in giuing out that I am a seditious person for oppugning the gouernment of Archb. and L. Bb. for maintaining the gouernement by Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons but affirme the defence of Gods trueth to be sedition and the defence of the libertie of his Churche to be treason Will the par●iament then suffer the cause of God to be thus shameful●y abused by wicked and prophane men Well my Ll. though you receiue not my Appellation in regarde of my selfe yet suffer the trueth to come before you Suffer not the cause of God and his Church for want of just triall to fall into ignomie and discredit Let it neuer be said that Festus an heathen Iudge should be more fauorable in supporting the credite of Gods trueth and the professors thereof then the parliament of England would be The spilling of my blood for this cause though it be a matter to be regarded of you that are in authoritie yet I thanke he Lorde it is not the thing that I feare For by his inestimable goodnes I finde my selfe an vnworthye wretche to be one of them who in this cause are not afraide of death when it commeth and one of them that may laugh at death and destruction because I knowe the beast stones of the fielde to be at league with me and that euerlasting peace for euer and euer shall be vnto me of the Lords free and vndeserued reward But the discrediting of the truth by my hard vsage is the thing that I regarde and the spilling of my blood for defending the trueth and writing against impietie is it that I feare me will make this lande an astonishment to our neighbors round about vs. Be it then that my complaint at this time were not the complaint of the oppressed and the straunger yet inasmuch as it is the cause of Christ Iesus for the which I am persecuted you are bound to receiue mine Appellation And here me thinks the Lord demandeth of you that are parlament mē as somtimes he did of the people of Iudah what iniquitie you finde in the Church gouernment by teaching Pastors and Doctors gouerning Elders ministring Deacons that you haue not onely committed two euils the one in refusing that gouernement th'other in chusing to your selues these broken pits I meane the gouernment of Archb. Lord Bb. which can holde in them nothing profitable to Gods Church but also think those that plead for Christs interest vnworthie your protection and countenance against the injust and cruell enemies and the cause wherein they stande vnworthie your defence The Lord I saye demaundeth what iniquitie you finde in the gouernment of his sonne that you haue thus altogether rejected and forsaken the same and cannot abide I speake now vnto such as are enemies therevnto to haue it consulted vpon in your meeting The best answere which in this point you can make are of late published by the publike authoritie of the Bishops thēselues Let these reasons then be briefely examined see whether they will be a sufficient warrant for her Majestie and you in the day of Christe Iesus to refuse his gouernment and to imbrace this hierarchy of Bb. in steed thereof First it is saide that this hierarchie is established by the authoritie of her Majestie the parliament The Lord answereth that for this cause the Nauie of the Spaniarde of late threatned our destruction and that for this cause we haue had extreme famine in all our quarters deare yeares and many an vnseasonable haruest and that for this cause he threatened to take away our dread soueraign whom good Lord spare in thy mercies and crowne with eternal blessednes for thy sonnes sake by so many conspiracies as haue bene villanously attempted within our land and therefore warneth her Majesty you of this honorable courte that vnlesse you woulde feele his heauie hand vnto your destructiō that this wicked and pestilent gouernment of L. Bb. shoulde be no longer maintained by your prerogatiue Secondly it is alleaged that this gouernment by Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons was inuented by they know not whom and that it is not yet proued that any such gouernment was in the primitiue Church VVhy this is more then shamelesse impudencie Is not that prooued in the 31. yeare of the raigne of Queene Elizabeth to haue bene at all in the primitiue Church which our booke of common prayer in the beginning of her Majesties raigne testified to haue beene therein and to shewe the necessitie thereof declareth that we are to wishe for the discipline then practized Thus you may see that our Bb. to saue themselues harmelesse take leaue when they thinke good to crosse the booke of Common prayer in that which is most true and which their owne writings graunt to be true whereas they crie treason treason when other men do not allow that which is amisse therein And you may also see howe fit they are to lead others in the way of life who are now growne so sharpe sighted as they will sweare that at noone dayes they can see no light whereas in the very morning they themselues sawe the vprising of the sun But to answer this point in a word the Lord maketh it knowne vnto the parliament of England that his sonne Christ Iesus was the author and ordainer of this Church gouernement whiche vncleane mouthes affirme to be inuented by they know not whome yea but our Bb. protest that the opinion which now th●y haue of their owne gouerment will not be shaken vntill they be resolued in two points whereof now they are ignorant First that a direct commaundement be brought out of the word to prooue that there should be in all ages and states of the church of Christ one onely forme of gouernement Secondly that some particular churches be set downe wherein the desired gouernment by Pastors doctors Elders Deacons was practised The high court of parliament is here sōmoned by the Lord of heauen to judg whether the iniquity of these men be to be borne with who blush not to speake euel of that vpright waie whereof they acknowledge them selues to be meetly ignorant why would they not require a resolution of their doubts before they had gainsaid the holy ordinance of the lord and accuse the same as traiterous vnto her maiesties gouernment and dangerous vnto the

charge for maintaining the trueth in asmuch as the Bishopps them selues in their allowed translation of the great Bible vppon the fore aleaged place of Act. 17. haue giuen this note namely That the common and vsuall weapons which the wicked vse against the members of Christ are treason and sedition Their wicked slander against al that seeke the reformation of our church and particularly against me haue verified the truth of this doctrine for assoone as any shewe their dislike of these corruptions with a desire to see Christ bearing sway in the church of England by his owne lawes they presently exclaime that these are the men which subuert the state of the Realm and that gainsay the decrees of her maiestie affirming that there is an other Soueraigne whose alone lawes must be harkened vnto and whose alone offices are to be allowed of in the gouernment of the church and that is Christ Iesus th'eternall sonne of the liuing God in deed if to defend the prerogatiue which he ought to haue in appointing th'officers gouernors of his church be sedition and treason I doe confesse in deed that after the way which they cal sedition and treason so serue I the God of my fathers But this is non other treason then that where vnto our Sauiour Christ and his apostles before me haue giuen their hands and consented and none other treason then that wherevpon all Kings and Queenes do firmly lay the foundation of their royall crownes and Scepters And therefore ye of the parliament ought to be so farr from being mooued with these shamefull reportes nowe raised by our Bishops against Christ Iesus against his trueth and his members as ye should not permitt such profane mouthes that presume in this sort to whette their tongues against heauen and him that sitteth therein to escape vnpunnished The forgers of these palpable vntruethes confesse themselues that Treason and Sedition are th'ordinarie weapons of the wicked against the members of Christe which in deede hath bene th'armour wherewith the diuell in all ages hath furnished his champions against the truth And I cannot blame our Bishops for being skilfull in this accusation seeing so many of their predecessors haue in the like cause troaden the like path before them Amos no sooner began to vtter the trueth in Bethel but Amasiah the high priest there presently smelled out his dangerous attempts And therefore like a good subiect in the singular good will he bare vnto his Soueraigne Lord Ieroboam the sonne of Ioash king of Israel he waded farther into the matter and at length found Amos his treason and sedition to be so intollerable as the Land was no longer able to beare it Especially seeing th'enterprises of the prophet were taken in hand even in the middest of the kingdome to stir vp the subiects to innouation in regard whereof the high priest sawe him selfe bound in conscience to send Ieroboam this message Amos hath conspired against thee in the middest of the house of Israel the land is not able to beare his words for he hath openly spoken that which the Lord hath put into his mouth The like treachery in the place before set down did the priests and the prophets finde in Jeremiah yea and such is the care which the lims of Sathan haue of the ciuil maiestrate that rather then kings and princes should be honored with the maintenance of a perfect building of Gods church they can presently finde no lesse then sedition and treason in their purposes that indeuoure to further that worke When Jerusalem began to be reedified in the daies of Artaxerxes the men beyond the riuer knew well enough that the building of Gods church and th'establishing of his true seruice amongst men is straight way a wicked and a rebellious enterprise For which cause they sent word vnto the king that if Jerusalem a city rebellious and wicked should be once built the kings tribute thereby should be diminished and because they had bin brought vp in the kings court and that it was not meet for them to see the kings dishonor they sent him word that if hee would search the booke of the Chronicles of his father he shoulde finde the true Churche of God to haue bene alwaies rebellious noisome vnto kings and princes and to haue mooued seditions of olde for which cause also it had bene destroyed And further they certified him that if he would suffer the church to be reedified by that meanes the portion beyond the riuer should not be his Nor long after this time Nehemias with the Elders of the Iewes strengthened their hands to finish the building of Ierusalem What saith Sanballat and Tobiah a seruant what a thing is this you doe will you rebell against the King As if the building of Gods church could not chuse but be a rebellious interprise You see by these examples right honorable that it is the lotte of Gods seruants to be accounted seditious men and traitors vnto princes and states whensoeuer they doe but set their faces towards the building of the Lords house and you see apparantly by these testimonies that it is no newe found slaunder which the high commissioners haue forged against me but an auncient quarrell of the Diuell in all ages and times against Gods trueth Which may be the better manifested if you doe consider if either they can alleadge no reason of their accusation or the same if they do shewe any is because I afforad my bounden seruice vnto the trueth For th●se are infallible markes whereby awicked enemy of the trueth and a slaunderer of the members of Christ may be knowne namely that either he can yeald no reason of his slaunder because he thinketh it sufficient for him in that cause to inuent an vntrueth without any proofe or his reason shalbe because the seruants of God doe faithfully employ them selues in the seruice of their maister Rheum and Geshem accused Ierusalem of rebelliō so did Sanballat accuse Nehemias and the Elders of the Iewes But how prooued they their accusations They neede not to labour that way because they slaundered the church of God and the true members thereof against whome for the mo●t part a slaunder without proofe wil be in steed of a thousand witnesses Ieremiah was accounted worthie to die by the prists and prophets in his time and what was their reason Why say they he hath prophesied in the name of the Lord saying This City shalbe made desolate without an inhabitant Lo heer my Ll. the infalliable markes of the slaunders and enemies of Gods children and where you finde these marks giue judgment accordingly Nowe may it please your honors to demaund of the high commission why they account me to be a disturber of the peace of our church and a seditious person Either they wil think them selues not bound to giue any reason of their accusation because against those that seeke the wealth of Ierusalem any vntrueth wilbe admitted or their