Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bishop_n	church_n	judge_n	1,391	5	7.0612	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09094	A brief discours contayning certayne reasons why Catholiques refuse to goe to church. Written by a learned and vertuous man, to a friend of his in England. And dedicated by I.H. to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie	Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610.	1580 (1580)	STC 19394; ESTC S102386	63,624	177

with the knowen and professed enemye of Christ and speaking soe contumelyouslye of him of whom al antiquitye in Christ his Church hath thought and spoken soe reuerently callinge him The hygh Preist of the Church The Bishoppe of the Vniuersal Church The Pastor of the Church The iudg of matters of faith The repurger of heresies The examiner of all bishopps causes And finallye the great Preist in obeying whom all Vnitye consisteth and by disobeyinge of whom all Heresies and Schismes aryse Secondlye it is blasphemous for that they praye to be delyuered from Papistrye meaninge thereby the Catholique and onelye trewe religion by the which all men are to be saued Thirdlye because they singe it and make other simple men to singe it in the beginning of sermons and otherwise as though it were scripture it selfe and one of Dauids psalmes Fourthly albeit the Protestantes seruice had not al this euil in it as it hath yet were it nought because it hath not in it those good things which Christian seruice should haue For seruice maye be euil as wel for hauing too litle as for hauing to much As the seruice of the Arrians was for singing Glorie to the Father and not singinge the same to the Sonne And as if a man shoulde recyte his Créede and leaue out one article as in effecte the Protestantes doe the article of discention into hel al the whole Créede were nought thereby Nowe how many thinges doe want in the Protestantes seruice which should be in Christian seruice it were to longe in euery poynte to rehearse yet wil I for examples sake name two or thrée thinges First therefore they haue lefte out the chéefest and heyghest thinges of al which is the blessed 〈◊〉 of Christ his Bodye and Bloud appoynted by Christ to be offered vp euerye day for thankes geuinge to God for obtayninge of grace and auoiding of al euil and for the remission of sinnes both of quicke and dead as with one consent the Fathers of the Primatiue Church doe affirme The which Sacrifice being away noe Christian seruice can be sayed to be there For so much as for this cause were ordayned preists nether can there any be called Preist but in respecte of this Sacrifice Also in respect of this sacrifice were Christian Churches called temples for this Sacrifice were made Aulters for an Aulter is the place of Sacrifice euen as an armorye is the place where armour is For this Sacrifice was Preistes apparell made Uestments Sensors Frankensence and the lyke in the Prymatyue Church Whereof all the Fathers Councells and historyes doe speake so muche The second thinge which the Protestants seruice leaueth out is noe lesse then six of the seuen Sacramentes which the Catholique seruice of God doth vse for as for their communion it can be no Sacramēt as they doe vse it The commoditie of which Sacraments in the Churche saint Augustine saythe That it is greater then can be expressed and therfore the contempte of them is nolesse then sacriledge because saythe he that can not be contemned without impietie without the helpe of which no man can haue pietie And for this cause in an other place he sayth That the contemnours of visible Sacraments can by no menes inuisiblye be sanctified The thirde thing that the Protestants seruice leaueth out is all the ceremonies of the Catholique Churche of the which the ould auncient Fathers and Councels doe saye these thrée things First that they are to be had in greate reuerence and to be contemned of no man Secondlye that they are to be learned by tradition and that manye of them are receaued by the tradition of the Apostles Lastlye that they whiche doe ether condemne despise or wilfullye omyt these cerimonies are excomunicated I myghte here adde manye other thinges as leauinge out prayers for the dead being as the Fathers holde one of the chéefest functions of a Priest Also for hauing their seruice in an other order language then y e vniuarsal church vseth But this is sufficient For if they leaue out of their seruice both Sacryfice Sacraments and all ecclesiasticall cerymonics I know not what good thing they haue lefte besides a fewe bare woordes of Scripture euil translated and woorse applyed which they reade there Seinge therfore their seruice is such it is a sufficient cause to make al Catholiques to auoyde it THE Eyght Reason THE Eyght Reason of refusal which maye now be yéelded why a Catholyque maye not come to the Protestantes Churches is because by going thither he shal lose al the benefit of his owne religion nether shal he take any more commoditye therby then if he were not of that religion at al. This is a very greate wayghtie and most sufficient reason to be yelded by Catholiques in Englande to their Princes for their refusal of comminge to Churche and such a one as beinge sufficiently conceyued by her Maiestie cannot but satysfie her Highnes and greatlye drawe her to compassion of the pyttifull case of soe manye thowsands of her louinge subiectes whoe beinge as I haue sayde Catholiques in hartes by goinge to Protestantes Churches must néedes bee brought ether to flat athisme that is to leaue of all conscience and to care for no relygion at all as manye thousand séeme to be resolued to doe or els to lyue in contynuall torment of mynde and almoste desperation considering that by theyr goinge to these Churches they lose vtterlye all vse and practise of theyr owne relygion being helde as schismatiques and excomunicate persons of the same and their case such that if they shoulde dye in the same state they were sure to receaue no parte of benefit of that relygion no more then if they had bene protestantes The which what a danger it is all true Christian men doe both knowe and feare But yet that the simpler sorte maye better vnderstande it and the wyser better consider of it I wil in particuler repeate some of the abouesayde dommages First therfore a Catholique by going to the Protestants Churches looseth all participation of that blessed Sacrifice of the bodye and blood of oure Sauiour appoynted by the sayde Sauiour as I haue shewed before to be offered vp daylye in the oblation of the Masse for the commoditie of the whole worlde quick and dead and for that cause as the godlye and learned saynt Iohn Chrisostome sayth Called the common Sacrifice of the whole world The which action of offering of this sacred Hosre the Sonne of God to his Father is of such dignitye excellencie and merit not only to the Priest but also to the standers by 〈◊〉 him as all the other good woorkes which a man can doe in his lyfe are not to be compared with it séeing that the verye Angels of heauen doe come downe at that tyme to adore after the 〈◊〉 that sacred Bodye and to offer the

that not withstandinge all this wil yet thinke it lawful especialy the thing being nowe in practise and so many meu suffering for the same Assuredly they can looke for no other account to be made of them but as Christ willeth vs. If he heare not the Churche let him be to the as an heathen and as a publicane The which woordes S. Austen sayth Are more greuous and terrible then if he had sayd let him be strookē with a sword let him be consumed with the flames of fyre lett him be deuowred of wylde beastes And a lyttle after talking of the bande where with the Churche maye bynde a mannes sinnes by authorytie geuen vnto her of Christ he saythe A man is bounde more bytterlye and more infortunately by the keyes of the Churche then by anye other moste greuous and harde bandes albeit they were of yron or of Adamante stone Let could Catholiques in Inglande marke this and not thinke they are frée when they are in these bandes nor thinke they are Christians whē in déed they are Heathens and Publicanes It is a natural infirmitie of ours to think willingly to wel of oure owne case and passiō permiteth vs not to iudge indifferently in these matters Let vs therfore consider of other mens cases and by them 〈◊〉 of oure owne If in S. Iohn Crisostome his tyme when there was an Arryan Churche and a Catholique Churche knowen in Constantinople and both of these Churches calling people vnto them and the Emperour fauourynge more the Arrians then the Caholiques if I saye in that case some Catholiques leuing S. Chrisostomes Church should haue gone to the Arrians Churches to seruice vpon obedience to the Emperour what would we think of thē now wold we estéem schismatiques or not Yf theye had dyed soe Consideringe their disobedience to the bishope and their perfidious betrainge of Goddes catholike cause in that time of trial I thinke yes Then let vs not deceue our selues for this is our case nowe And yf in al mens iudgmentes that acte would haue seemed Schisme for disobeing one particuler and priuate Bishope and breaking from his com munion what shal we saye for disobeyinge the general Pastour of al breakinge from his communion Of whom the noble martyr of Christ S. Ciprian aboue fiftene hundred yeres agone said thus Heresies and schisms haue sprong of none other cause then for that men doe not obey Gods Pre ist and for that they doe not thincke or consider that ther is one only Priest whoe is Iudge in Christs stead for the time Vnto whom if al the vniuersall brotherhood would obeye in deuine functions no man would mooue anie thinge against the college of Preistes nether after the iudgement of God the suffrage of the people the bishops consent once put downe in any matter would any man dare to make him selfe a iudge of the Bishoppe and consequently of God nor by breakinge Vnitye teare and rente the Churche of Christ. The Fifte Reason The fifte reason wherefore a Catholicke may not goe to the Church of those of the contrarye religion is for feare lest his presence may be interpreted by God to be consent vnto their doing and soe he be made partaker of their punishment Concerning which we must vnderstand that of al the enemies that God hath in this world there is none in soe hyghe displeasure with him as he who once knowinge the trueth and beinge receaued into his house the Catholicke Church runneth out agayne and by newe deuised doctrines vexeth and molesteth the same being not onelye the house as I haue sayd of Christ but also his spouse nay his owne body Which sorte of men the scripture calleth Heretyckes whose cursse and reprobation in this life is more greauous then anye other sinne whatsoeuer and the damnation for the tyme to come more intollerable For that as S. Peter sayeth It had bene better for them neuer to haue knowen the waye of righteousnes then after they knew it to turne backe agayne And these are those men of whome Christ sayde that one diuel goeinge forth in their first comminge to the fayth by Baptisme he afterwardes entred agayne with seuen other diuels worse then him selfe and soe made the ende of that man worse then his beginning And Saint Paul geueth a maruelous seuere iudgement vpon them when he sayeth That Heretyckes are subuerted and doe sinne and are damned by their owne iudgementes First he sayeth that they are subuerted or ouerthrowen because they are blotted out of the booke of lyfe Secondly that their whole lyfe is sinne vppon 〈◊〉 because they are vtterlye depriued of God his grace without the which we can doe nothing but sinne Thyrdlye he sayeth they are damned by their owne iudgementes ether for that they chose wittingly to leaue the Catholicke Church out of the which they knew their was noe saluation or els because the most of them doe know that they doe amisse and yet for pryde they will not come backe So that euerye waye their case is verye pitifull and lamentable This point the holy Fathers of the Churche doe often tymes handle verye seriouslye aod grauclye prouing that Heretyckes more offend God and are in furre woorse state then anye offender els in the world and namelye more then ether Iew or Gētile For y e which cause they note that the new Testament biddeth vs not to beware of Iewes and Gentiles but of Heretickes in many places The reason is for that they are those wolues which Christ foretould vs shoulde come in shéepe skinnes which as S. Augustine sayeth shal pretend to be very good shéepe and frendes to Christ and to his shéepefould and yet with Christ his owne wordes they shal teach you to denye Christ to teare the shéepefould in péeces and to disperse the shéepe Nay they shal sleye more soules with the word then euer Tyrantes did with the sword Agayne S. Austin proueth at large in an other place that Hereticks are those Antechristes of whom S. Iohn spake when he sayd That manye Antichristes are nowe gonne out meaning of Symon Magus Cerinthus and other Heretickes of his time Of which Antichrists he sayeth that S. Paul did pronounce that terrible saying that they weare The men of Sinne the Children of destruction As who would say that albeit all other noughtye men weare inwrapped with the guilt of sinne and of their owne destruction yet those men aboue al others for ther eminēt wickednes were properlye to be called the men of sinne and in respect of their heynous sinne of slayeinge of soules and the heauye sentence abyding them for the same they were peculierlye to be called the Children of perdition and damnation This therefore being soe that the déepe displeasure of God and his heauy hand hangeth more ouer the heads of Hereticks and Schismaticks then ouer any other people in the world