Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	common_a	prayer_n	set_v	2,812	5	5.7163	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12489	A persvvasion to the English recusants, to reconcile themselues to the Church of England Written for the better satisfaction of those which be ignorant. By Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie.	Dove, John, 1560 or 61-1618.	1603 (1603)	STC 7085; ESTC S110110	29,134	40

which is the Bishop of Rome and that being seperated from the head we cannot be liuing members of that mysticall body My answere is The head of the Church is Christ 1. Cor 11. and we as members are conglutinate and ioyned vnto that head and to them which obiect that our Sauior Christ in his absence must haue his Deputie that the Deputy or Vicar generall of Christ is the Holy-Ghost which hath the gouernement of the Church Euen as Elias ascending vp let his mantle downe vpon Eliseus to be with him in his steade so our Sauiour departing 2. Reg. 2 Act. 2 Matth. 28. Act. 20. from vs sent downe the Holy-Ghost to possesse his roome and to abide with vs vntill the end of the world Take heede saieth the Apostle to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy-ghost hath made you ouer-seers so then the Holy-Ghost hath the gouernement of the Church But say they a visible body must haue a visible head proportionably to the body and therefore some one man must be ouer the Church I deny not but weake men desire a visible obiect still before their eies as the Israelites when Moses was out of their sight but a few dayes Exod. 32. would make a calfe to be their gouernour rather than they would want one to be visibly resident among them And therefore our Sauior because we should not in his absence committe the like idolatry did leaue the visible Sacrament of the Eucharist among vs saying This is my body But yet I do answer that a similitude must not as the Schoolemen say Currere quatuor pedibus agree in all things First therefore it is not simply necessarie that the visible bodie should still haue a visible head in sight as if it could not stand without such an head For God had his Church visible vpon the earth before the Papacie and before the Incarnation of Christ but Christ the head of the Church before his incarnation could not be a visible head So therefore as Christ in his Godhead alone before hee was borne was the head of his Church though inuisible likewise is he now in his Godhead and Manhoode vnited together head of the church visible although vpon the earth not to be seene Secondly the time hath beene when there was a long vacancie of the Popedome by reason of ciuill dissention yet the Church then stood without such an head Thirdly no sinfull man is able to discharge such an office as to be ouer-seer of the vniuersal church Fourthly there must be such an influence of necessitie from the head to the body as cannot possibly be from any man to the Church Fiftly the Pope neuer was reputed as head of the whole Church for the East part of the world that is the Greeke Church was euer so auerse from the Sea of Rome that it could neuer yet be brought either to obedience to the Pope or to ioyne in rites and ceremonies with his Church or to be incorporated into that body or to vse the same leiturgie and forme of prayer which that Church vseth All appellations amongst them haue bin to the Patriarch of Constantinople as to the highest Bishop Sixtly what authoritie soeuer the Pope hath had ouer the Latine Church and West part of the world it hath beene giuen him by humane constitutions onely and generall consent of Princes and States which they suffered him to enioy during their owne good liking and no longer And last of all our owne experience can enforme vs that the Catholike princes which are most of all deuoted to the Sea of Rome will be so farre subiect as they thinke fit and no further Charles the fift late Emperor and King of Spaine tooke prisoner Clement the Pope when hee resisted his proceedings in Italie and Queene Mary made her Cosin Cardinall Pole Arch-Bishop of Canterburie though the Pope withstood it neither doe the Kings of France though of the Romish religion euer suffer the Popes to beare any stroke in the election of their Bishops I wish therefore that they would be better aduised before they lay scisme vnto our charge Chap. V. Of Discord and Inconstancie THe vsuall obiections against vs were wont to be that wee haue sects and diuisions among vs. But so had they oftentimes Eckius against Pighius Thomas against Scotus so had the Apostles Peter against Paul and Paul against Barnabas some were of Paul some of Apollo and some of Cephas We contend about white and blacke round and square but in matters of religion we agree That concerning the booke of common prayer when the masse was first put downe king Henry had his English Leiturgie and that was iudged absolute without exception but when King Edward came to the Crowne that was condemned and other in the place which Peter Martyr and Bucer did approoue as very consonant to Gods word When Queene Elizabeth beganne hir raigne the former was iudged to be full of imperfections and a new was deuised and allowed by the consent of the Clergie But about the middle of her raigne wee grew weary of that booke and great meanes haue beene wrought to abandon that and establish an other which although it was not obtained yet we doe at the least at euery change of Prince change our booke of common prayers we be so wanton that we know not what we would haue I answer they haue done the like they cannot denie it for proofe whereof I referre them to the preface which is set before their owne Breuiary wherein it is specified how many times their owne Breuiary hath beene altered It is no discredit either to them or vs to alter for the better and to correct that which we finde amisse All faults are not espied at once neither is all truth reuealed at once But it is damnable to perseuere and continue in an error after it is found out and not to imbrace a truth after it is reuealed The Church had a time of growing three hundred yeares after Christ being then watered and made fruitefull by the bloud of Martyrs then the religion of Rome was found according to that which Saint Paul doth testifie in his Epistle to the Romanes the Bishops thereof Rom. 1. continued zealous and were commonly martired The Church had a time of florishing three hundred yeares which beganne when Constantine the great granted peace vnto the gospel and persecution ceased so long found doctrine was preached But the Church afterward beganne to decay and so went backeward vntill Gregory the great in whose time corruption began to creepe in and so ranne ouer the whole body of the Church and euery christian Kingdome which were members of that body so that the whole visible Catholike Church through the world was mightily deformed Then Luther in his time beganne a reformation againe though he reformed not the whole yet he reformed some partes like a Phygtion which finding a mans body full of sores healeth some members although he be not able

commaunded to doe wee are but vnprofitable seruants and therefore we will relie vpon the merits of Christ alone renouncing our selues and our workes Let them iudge then who are safest they or we Our difference is not concerning the worke it selfe but only concerning the opinion which we ought to conceiue of the worke they thinke honourably wee basely of our owne workes but worke the same And certainely the worthinesse of workes doth not consist in the excellent opinion which we conceiue of them but in the true and faithfull working not in the pleasing of our selues with our selues or any thing which procedeth from vs. Of Free will THis question hath bred some difference betweene vs in the schooles and yet if we do vnderstand each other we may be easily reconciled For the scriptures speake so plainely that they take away doubts We are say they not of our selues sufficient to thinke a good thought as of our selues but all our sufficiencie is of God The way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man 1. Corint 3. Ierem. 10 to walke and direct his steps No man commeth to Christ vnlesse the Father draw him Draw me and wee will runne after Iohn 6 Cant. 1 Rom. 7 thee What good I would doe that doe I not the euill which I would not doe that doe I saith the Apostle To conclude therefore there are three sorts of agents the one working of his meere will and pleasure which is God the other of necessitie which is nature a third betweene both these extreames partly of willingnesse and partely of necessitie which is man And as no man is good against his will so no man hath power to will any thing that is good vnlesse God giueth him that will So saith the Apostle It is God which worketh in you euen the wil and deede Phil. 2 of his owne good will and pleasure And this will may be compared to the eye which being in darkenesse yet is not blinde neither doth it see without the especiall grace of God Of Prayer WE inuocate God alone who we are sure doth heare vs and they confesse that in so doing wee doe well why then will they not ioyne with vs in well doing But as for Saints departed when they pray to them to be prayed for by them they are not certaine that they doe heare them because it cannot be sufficiently prooued why then will they not pray with vs whose prayers they confesse to be voyde of exception They denie not but that it is better to pray to God then to Saints why then had they not rather be sure of the first place then doubt of the second Their prayer to Saints may breede a scruple in their conscience whether they do well or no. For if they heare them not their praiers are idle words but they must answere at the day of iudgement Matth. 12. for euery idle word which they shall speake As we pray not to Saints departed so wee pray not for Saints or any other deceased If they be in heauen they neede not our prayers if in hel no prayers can helpe them and we dare not say they are in purgatory sith purgatory by the confession of Bellarmine is a tradition not containd in the scriptures He writes that there be many things necessary to be known which are not contained in the scriptures he doth reckon them vp in order and he placeth them so first that women were purged from sinne though vncircumcised secondly that children that died before the eight day were also purged from originall sinne thirdly many Gentiles in the old testament were saued fourthly that of necessitie there be some books which are the holy scriptures fiftly that it must be knowne which bookes are the holy scriptures sixtly that the bookes which wee haue in our hands are the holy scriptures seauenthly that the scriptures are to be vnderstood eightly that Mary was a perpetuall Virgine ninthly that Easter is to be celebrated on the Lordes day tenthly that Infants are to be baptized eleuenthly purgatory But marke his words he saith many things are necessary to be knowne which are not contained in the scriptures among those he maketh purgatory to be the eleuenth therefore he affirmeth that purgatory is a thing necessary to be knowne and not in the scriptures and yet as a man that would halte betweene two religions to please vs and not displease the Papists doth lay it vpon Luther saying Credit Lutherus purgatorium esse tamen asserit purgatorium non posse probari in sacris literis Luther saith he belieueth that there is a purgatory and yet saith it cannot be prooued out of the scriptures The question is whether Bellarmine doth not say so as well as Luther If he do not first why doth he not expresse his owne minde to the contrary in that place secondly why doth he in that long catalogue of such things as are not contained in the scriptures reckon purgatory to be the eleuenth He sheweth that the tenth tradition or vnwritten veritie is the baptisme of Infants that Luther and Caluin hold it lawefull and yet his selfe doth not refuse that opinion which they doe hold and the like must be vnderstood concerning purgatory that as Luther denieth purgatory to be contained in the scriptures so doth Bellarmine or else he doth contradict himselfe which said before that Pargatorium est vndecimum eorum quae ignorari non possunt tamen in scripturis non continentur Purgatory is the eleuenth of these things whereof we may not be ignorant and yet are not contained in the scriptures Sith therefore Bellarmine repeating many things which are not contained in the scripture of which one to be purgatory and yet before as I haue shewd granteth all things to be contained in the scriptures which are necessary for our saluation that we should know them ye must beare with vs De verbo Dei lib. 2. cap. 11. if we doe not belieue purgatorie being no matter of saluation to vs to belieue it We pray in our mother tongue what exception doe they take against it Their priuate prayers are in English as it appeareth by their Iesus psalter their Manuall of Meditations and sundry other prayer books which they haue printed I would know why it might not be as lawfull to pray publikely in the same tongue Which is more I haue seene the Masse by them set forth in Spanish the Spanish being in one page of the booke and the Latine in the other In times past the English testament was printed with the English in one page and the Latine in the other and licensed to be printed and publikely sold by King Philip and Qu. Mary And now of late our English Seminaries of Rhemes haue published the New Testament in English with promise also to set forth the old why may not the English Bible be published by vs as well as by the Seminaries and as well be read publikely in our Church