Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ecclesiastical_a	king_n	law_n	5,150	5	5.4995	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57341	The Ripping-up of Sir John Presbyter's garment, or, The Ground-work of schism laid open to all true Protestant readers, &c		1679 (1679)	Wing R1530; ESTC R38037	8,226	5

The Ripping-up of Sir Iohn Presbyter's Garment OR THE Ground-work of Schism Laid open to all true Protestant Readers c. Reader I Shall not stop your desires by an Epistle but fall plainly to the Matter which I hope may not only divert but convert thee if you are not already Conformable for know those foul and damnable Presbytical practices which are daily working are not invisible to the All-seeing God though for a time they may be so to men I know their present designs are strengthned and encouraged by the same Party who made the late Insurrection in Scotland they think and stick not to speak it too that by compulsion the King must yield to their demands but let them not be deceived for howsoever in Scotland some thought themselves strong enough to resist their Prince yet I thank God they are not so popular here but the King's Laws and Authority is able to overtake them And assured they may be that these their insolent oppositions against the King and his Interest will make their Faction be more narrowly look'd into for certainly they have not any spark of God's Grace nor Loyalty to their King and so are become the Children of Sin and Rebellion wherefore behold their proceedings and judge them accordingly You may perceive how that Sect since the first beginning of it which was but in Queen Maries Reign hath proceeded from evil to worse by innumerable degrees at first they did only manifest a dislike of Episcopal Government and some Ceremonies used in the Church of England as liking better the Government of Geneva which was desired by Mr. Calvin and that cunningly enough for the State of that Republick which being Popular could not brook any other but that which is Popular also And yet I must tell you Mr. Calvin wanted nothing of a Bishop but only the Title for the Church of Geneva is not a Parochial but Diocesan Church consisting of divers Parishes which make up one great Presbytery and he all the days of his life was Moderator thereof And so likewise Mr. Beza for ten years after the others death held the same place of Government until Danaeus set him beside the Cushion and procured the Precedency to go by turns In the next place from dislike they proceeded to contempt of Episcopal Government and this if you will believe St. Cyprian hath been the very beginning of all Heresies and Schisms Initia Haereticorum saith he ortus Schismaticorum haec sunt ut praepositum superbo tumore contemnant And again Vnde Schismata Haereses orta sunt nisi dum Episcopus qui unus est Ecclesia praeest superbâ quorundam praesumptione contemnitur homo dignatione Dei honoratus ab indignis hominibus judicatur In the third place from contempt they did proceed unto open disobedience unto all the Orders of the Church and like those of whom Nazianzen speaks would be pleased with nothing but what did proceed from their own devising esteeming him the Holiest man who could find most Faults From disobedience they did proceed unto Schism and open Separation accounting themselves only to be the Brethren and Congregation of Christ and all others who are not of their Faction to be the Children of this World From Schism they proceed to Heresie for it is most true which St. Jerome did observe that Omne Schismagignit sibi Haeresin every Schism doth devise unto it self an Heresie some false Doctrine or other to maintain their Separation And these men have devised not a few and some that have been condemned by Ancient Councils and Fathers as namely Epiphanius reckons among the condemn'd Heresies of Aerius that he maintained there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter and that all set Fasts are unlawful Jewish and Superstitious And is not such the Doctrine of these men But their disobedience Schism and Heresie has again drawn them even to the brink of Rebellion where the hopes of some immediate proceedings c. has stopt their Carreer for the present But I am deceiv'd if they have not yet a farther Journey to go and that they no ease can find till arrived at the second part of the Good Old Cause from which their hearts now differ but little and if you 'l but read the History of the late Civil Wars you will find their proceedings were then more moderate than now they are This is the just Judgment of God that they who out-run the limits of his infinite goodness and the mercy of their most clement and gracious King should also run out of their own wits and into the very Lake of Perdition and Puritanism I beseech all good Protestants in time to consider their ways and proceedings and how they endeavour to cast mists before our eyes whilst their Rebellious practices run to the point they so earnestly pray for I protest their gross Hypocrisie in matters of Religion and their base injurious dealing with Kings who are God's Vice-gerents here on Earth is most unpardonable both which I have observ'd by their Doctrine and Practices and will now give you a brief taste of both As for their Doctrine we know they would if they durst take from the King all Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical and will not allow him to do those things which the good Kings of Judah and the Godly Emperors of the Primitive Church did nay they will not accept or allow of so much as one Member of Parliament recommended by the King nor His Majesty to make any Laws concerning matters of outward Order and Polity nay they have gone farther allowing and encouraging Subjects to resist their Prince and are now on the same step of Rebellion and that next door to being done by force of Arms and in some cases to depose him nay and condemn him as a Tyrant And though the Godliest Prince in the World by them he must be esteemed so for it much pleases the Presbyter to declare him such so that according to this account Kings must be in a far worse case under Presbytery than ever they were under the Pope This is their Doctrine and now I will shew you their Practice First those of the same fraternity in Scotland how they dealt with King James they persecuted him in his Mothers womb and when he came unto ripe years they would not suffer him to enjoy one quiet day by their Seditious practices of a great many I will cull out some of their Attempts which are most notorious First when the Ring-leaders of that Faction had concluded the State of Bishops to be unlawful they sent their Commissioners unto the King commanding him and his Council under pain of Excommunication to put them down Secondly when King James was taken Prisoner at Ruthen by their Treachery intending thereby to enforce His Majesty to their own ends he being happily delivered from them did with the consent of his Three Estates in Parliament declare it to be a Treasonable Fact but the Seditious