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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	england_n	king_n	lord_n	4,602	5	4.1139	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69195	Certaine demandes with their grounds, drawne out of holy writ, and propounded in foro conscientiæ by some religious gentl. vnto the reverend fathers, Richard archbishop of Canterbury, Richard bishop of London, William bishop of Lincolne, Garvase bishop of Worcester, William bishop of Exeter, & Thomas bishop of Peterbourough wherevnto the said gentl. require that it would please their lordships to make a true, plaine, direct, honest and resolute aunswere.	Bancroft, Richard, 1544-1610.	1605 (1605)	STC 6572.5; ESTC S112734	57,418	70

by this booke of common prayer of the second of Edw. 6. kneeling crossing holding vp of handes knocking vpon the breaste and other gestures are to bee vsed at least as every mans devotion serveth without blame We pray your Lordships to suffer vs without blame and danger of your late canons peaceably and quietly to enioy and possesse our libertie That so we may receyve the communion sitting standing or kneeling as everie mans devotion serveth And thus much for our full and perfect answere vnto your questions of disseysing the church of her evangelicall decencie and order and of reverence and conformitie in kneeling in the act of receyving the cōmunion wherevpon we most instantly pray your Lordships that you would be well pleased vpon your second thoughtes to heale your former errours And withall to be content not only to suppresse the vse of your Copes Surplices making of Crosses signing with Crosses tokening with Crosses kneeling c. But also to restore our possession and to give vs livery and seysin of all those decencies conformities and reverend maner of prayer preaching the word receiving and administring the Sacramentes without Copes Surplices Crosses and kneelings whereof the Churches were seysed in the Apostles tymes And which being moderated by the wisdome and authoritie of our Saviour Christ we are most assured can not be but well-pleasing vnto God But Sirs by your patience our Christian Magistrate imposeth them as matters of order according to that forme wherein he found the church at his coming and this his pleasure must commaund may satisfie vs if it should please the King not to commaund them wee for our partes could be well content not to vrge them See see what a dalliance is this in a matter of so high a qualitie and touching the dignitie preheminence of so excellent a person what was your melody yesterday and that in the presence of the King and assemblie of his Nobles was your melody but yesterday we say viz. No ceremonie no Bishop no Bishop no King and can your Lordships to day sitting Iudicially in your Consistory to censure the Ministers for not conformitie thus sudenly change your note and cry openly No commaundement of ceremonies by the King no imposition of ceremonies by the Bishop For is it not as if you should have layde the whole blame vpon the King and have spoken thus No ceremonious King no ceremonious Bishop And yet for all this do not all men know that your Lordships were too too ceremonious and too too great masters of ceremonies before ever the King saw your faces And how then cometh it to passe ceremonies having hitherto ben vpheld by your Lordlines that your Lordlines should not now stande but by ceremonies or how cometh it to passe your Lordlines heretofore being propped vp by the crowne and scepter of our late Queene that your Lordlines should now vphold the scepter crowne of our Christian King This your Lordships gradation therefore made vpon the first day from the not being of a Ceremonie to the not being of a Bishop to the not being of a King And this your protestation made vpon the next day of the being of a Kinge to the being of a ceremonie what ells doeth the one and the other argue and importe but a feare and a suspition if the King should once commande downe your lawes of Ceremonies that the Lawes of your Lordlinesse likewise would of them selves sone after fall to the ground And therefore whether the King did conceive that you might but glose and flatter with your gradation or whether poore simple and playne meaning men might be seduced by your protestation we know not neither is it our purpose to enquire Only we can not but much marveile that each of you professing him selfe to be a Gad and to be a Nathan to be a Seer and to be a Prophet vnto our christian Magistrate should thus protest thus chardge the King to be the only spirit by whom your selves doe speake and the only prophet from whom your selves doe learne Nay what a thinge is this your Lordships prophesying vnto the King in the name of the Lord That your rites and ceremonies are no way contrariant or repugnant but every way agreeable and consonant to the holy word of God and meete to be reteyned aswell for the manner and forme of Gods worship as for edification of the church should notwithstanding openly avow the Kings pleasure and the Kings command to be the fountayne and welspring of your prophesies Nay which is more your selves making for your selves Ceremonious hornes of Iron assuring the king that with the same he should be able to overthrowe and push downe al such as by your Lordships be falsely called puritanes What a thing is this that you should notwithstanding proclayme the kings minde to be as it were the only mould wherein your ceremonies were cast Nay which is more What a thing is this your Lordships assuring to your selves to bee the chiefest of the Lordes Priestes and Levites should notwithstanding put the holy Censores into his Maiesties hand and laye the holy Arcke of the Covenaunt vpon the kinges shoulders to burne incense and to beare it and to carrye it him selfe alone Nay which is more What a thing is this your Lordships by a definitive sentence publickly given read and divulged in your sacred so called Synod having not only iudicially decreed the lawfulnes of ornaments rites and ceremonies but also humbly and professedly desired the same to be cōfirmed by the Kings royal authoritie vnder the broad Seale of England that you should notwithstanding for the execution of your said Decree call to witnes the Kings commaund and the Kings pleasure As though the Kings pleasure and commaund were the only cause and not the effect of your decree and not rather your decree the only cause and not the effect of his Highnes commaund Your second canon by which the same power is iustly as we cōfesse given to our Sovereigne Lord the King in causes ecclesiasticall that the godly Kings had among the Iewes will not serve to excuse you in the making of your canons if any of them be blame worthie for the godly Kings of Iudah never had any authoritie to command what ceremonies should be ordeyned among the lewes Neither did King David neither any other of the godly kings of Iudah doe any thing in building of the Temple in distribution of offices among the Levites or in any manner services performed to the Lord but the same was sent vnto them in writing from the hand of the Lord or by the mouth of the Prophetes or by casting of Lott What soever authoritie then the godly Kings of Iudah had to command ceremonies once made to be observed the same authoritie and none other in matter of ceremonies doeth your canon yeald vnto the King And therfore we beseech your Lordships hereafter to carry such a loyall and conscionable reverence and

as that not only they content not thē selves by eating flesh themselves to grieve to offend a weak brother to give him an occasion to sinne but also cōmand a weake brother to eate that meate by eating wherof he can not but fal but stumble but grieve but offend but sinne and but destroy him selfe This kind of charitie may deserve vnhappely the name of some Synodal or Provincial charitie but certes it can neverworthely deserve to be called an Apostolicall charitie But Sirs you mistake the matter very much you deceive your selves draw not the cases rightly The vse of Crosses Copes Surplices Cappes kneelings are cōmanded by the christiā Magistrates soveraigne authority only as things indifferēt for orders sake not that men should be grieved and offended or that they should fall stumble sinne destroy them selves Touching the christian Magistrates authoritie about ordering rites ceremonies in the church we have somewhat at large argued before which we had thought might have fully satisfied your Lordships but because it pleaseth you still to presse vs with the same we must once againe plainly signifie vnto you that we beleeve that your selves do not attribute any more spirituall authoritie vnto the King to make constitute and ordeine canons constitutions rites or ceremonies then you give vnto him spirituall power to preach the word administer the Sacraments and excommunicate For we beleeve that your selves with the residue of the clergie assembled by the Kings writt in your convocation doe chalendge all spirituall power vnto your selves to make ordeine and decree all maner of canons constitutions ordinances ornaments rites and ceremonies in the Church Yea and this spirituall power we beleeve that you pretend to be derived vnto your selves and the rest of the clergie in the convocation not from any spirituall power invested in the person of our soveraigne Lord the King but onely from the spirituall power of our Saviour Christ alone And this is manifest by your Cxxxix canon for so are your words Whosoever shall hereafter affirme that the Sacred Synode of this nation in the name of Christ and by the Kings authoritie assembled is not the church of England by representation let him be excommunicated c. These wordes wee say of your canon viz. Sacred Synod is assembled in the name of Christ and by authoritie of the King plainely testifie that you hold your Synode not to be assembled by authoritie of the King in the name of the King or in the name of Christ and the King but only in the name of Christ And therefore by your owne wordes wee are inforced to beleeve that you attribute vnto the King none other authoritie then such as you attribute to the godly Kinges of Judah namely an authoritie to assemble and command your persons as they assembled and commanded the persons of the Priestes What to execute the rites and ceremonies of the Kinges of Iudah No but to execute the rites and ceremonies of God And so we beleeve your persons being assembled by authoritie and commandement of the King that your selves by your owne authoritie and that in the name and by the power of Christ and not in the name and power of the King doe ordeine decree and make canons constitutions rites and ceremonies as if they were sent vnto vs by your handes from God And thus much doe the very first words of your first canon and some words in your 140. 141. canons clearly prove For howsoever in the title of your book you vse these words Constitutions and Canons treated and agreed vpon by the Bishop of London c. Yet both in the proheme body of your first canō you affirme as followeth In your proheme or title you say thus the Kings supremacy over the church of Englād in causes ecclesiastical you say not over the church causes but over the church in causes and in the body of the same canō you say we first decree ordeine that the Archb. of Canterbury c. and in the Cxl. canon your words are these Whosoever shall affime that no maner of person c. are to be subiect to the decrees therof speaking of the Synod eccllesiasticall made ratified by the kings Maiesties supreame authority c. let him be c. your words also in your last canō are these whosoever shal hereafter affirm c. that the sacred Sinod assembled c. was a company of persons c. in making canons cōstitutions in causes ecclesiasticall c. ought to be despised c. the same being ratified confirmed and inioyned by the regall power supremacie and authoritie lett them be excommunicated Now by all these your owne words and sentences we decree ordeine decrees of the Synod making canons by the sacred Synod ratified confirmed inioyned by the regall power c. by all these words we say we can not but beleeve that you chalendge your ecclesiasticall power of ordeining decreeing making decrees canons constitutions rites and ceremonies to be invested in your owne persons assembled by authoritie of the King from the authoritie and power of Christ and not from any spirituall or ecclesiasticall power invested in the person of the King and derived and conveighed vnto your persons assembled by his regall writt For then how should we not beleeve also but that you iudged the Kings writt to be no civil but an ecclesiasticall and spirituall writt But howsoever as yet wee beleeve not this latter yet still we beleeve that you appropriate vnto your owne persons assembled by the Kings writt a sole power and that from our Saviour Christ to give vnto your decrees canons constitutions rites and ceremonies their first being and their first birthright and that you assigne vnto the King none other power but a power of their after birth of ratifying and confirming of that life being which your persons have first put into them So that the King is in this but as it were an executioner of your canons and not you the executioners of the Kings decrees Yea thus much M. Doctor Bilson in his Book intituled True difference betweene Christian subiection vnchristian rebellion Pag. 243. avoweth testifieth whose words are these We never said that Princes had any spirituall power it is a false collection of yours it is no part of our cōfession the sword which they bear we never called but external tēporall Againe to devise new rites and ceremonies for the Church is not the Princes vocation but to receive and allow such as the Scriptures and canons commend and such as the Bishops Pastours of the place shall advise not infringing the Scriptures or canons so for all other ecclesiasticall things causes Princes be neither the devisors nor directors of them but the confirmers and establishers of that which is good and displacers and revengers of that which is evill which power we say they have in all things be they spirituall

them that were dead for the witnes of Iesus and for the word of God and which did not worship the beast neither his image neither had taken his marke vpon their forheads or on their handes From these grounds of holy Writ taken out of the law we demand whether the worship of every Idoll and false god or not rather every superstitious and false worship of the true God bee forbidden And whether this superstitious and false worship of the trew God bee not intended to be that maner forme and fashion of worship both wholy and in parte which the Gentiles vsed in the worship of their Idolles For there being a commaundement given before vnto the children of Israell for the burning of the Images and of the vtter destruction of all the Idolles of the Cananites it is by these Scriptures commaunded after these Idoles were destroyed and the Images burnt that the children of Israell should not so much as once hearken after or inquire how those nations served their gods least they should be taken in a snare to doe so and likewise vnto the Lord their God as the nations did vnto their Idoles And thus much also doth that argument drawen from the doctrine of the gospell enforce of not having felowship concord parte or agreement with beliall or with an Idoll of the not taking of the marke of the beast in their handes or in their foreheads And therefore we again demand whether the Church falsly so called of Rome be not this great whore with whom the kings of the earth have cōmitted fornication And whether shee also be not from the earth and of this world Whether the beautie of this great whore stand not in outwarde pompe of apparell and outward shewes after the manner of a strumpett Whether this outward pompe of apparell and shewes of impudency consist not partly in Copes Surplices Crosses and such like trashe And whether these Copes Surplices Crosses c. be not designed by that whore to be the proper and peculiar cognizances tokens badges and ensignes of her lovers cōmitting fornication with her great Idoll the breaden God If your Lordships can iustly deny our demaunds in the affirmative to be true we then agayne demaund If the bryde of the lambe being a pure virgine shall at any tyme be apparelled in the acte of the service of her beloved like to the minnions wayting vppon the great Whore in the acte of her fornications wee demaunde wee saye whether the Bryde in this case can be precious and amiable in the eyes of the Bridegrome can be said to have no concord with beliall no parte with an infidell no agreement with an Idoll can bee saide not to take vpon her hande vpon her forehead or vpon her backe the marke of the beast Can be sayd not to doe so and lykwise to the brydgrome as the mynions of the whore doe to their Idole or not to doe so and lykewise to God as the papists doe to the devill Nay if the Church of England herself alone bee not the bryde but one of the maydes of the Bride and if also shee professe hir self to be the first of the three rather then the last of the the thirty worthyes and honorable Virgins we demand what holy reason should move this maide of England still to fashion her Necklaces her Bracelets hir Frontlets hir Cheynes hir Iewels hir lynen Apornes hir gaudie Kirtles like to those which the most famous strumpett that ever was for pompous ostentation and braverie daily vseth and putteth on especially sithence all hir other fellow maides in other Countries attending vpon the Bride with most solemne vowes and obtestations and with a most holy disdayne and indignation have abandoned and cast away as a menstruous cloth what attire soever hath bene or yet is proper to the minions of that great Whore If your Lordships answere that the Maide of Englande being perfectly instructed from the Bridegroms voice that no Cope Surplice or Crosse is vncleane of it selfe may command hir Damsels to attyre and fashion their liveries colours and badges like to those which the minions louers of the great whore cōmonly deck them selves withall if so be hir commandement tend not that hir Damsells should be defiled or bee druncken with the Wine of the fornication of the great whore but only that they should be humbled at the feete of the Christian Magistrate whom the Bridgrome hath armed with power to be a protector and a nursing father of all the liberties and franchises of the Bride and of hir Maides if your Lordships we say to dischardge the Maide of England in foro conscientiae shall answere thus and thus then because the Christian Magistrate is him selfe not the Bridgrome but one of the children of the Bride chamber a friend of the Bridegromes and for this cause in this respect can not rightly command the Maide of Englande to be appareled otherwise in the service of the Bridegrome then as the Bridegrome hath lycensed the Magistrate to command wee then demand by what rule of holy Writt your Lordships can prove that the Christian Magistrate hath commission from the Bridegrome to command the Maide of England at all seasons and in all the courts of his aboade to waite and to attend to present and to put vp hir requests hir prayers and hir services in such suite and change of rayment as is common with that of the minions of the great whore For vnlesse the Christian Magistrate be armed with power from the Bridegrome to chardge the maide of England to be thus attired your Lordships can not be ignorant but that aswell the nursing Father in commanding as the nurse Child in obeying shall sinne against the Bridgrome For howsoever it may bee lawfull for the Christian Magistrate to command or forbidde the vse or not vse of every kinde of creature which in it owne nature by vertue of creation is good and therefore only called indifferent because indifferently at the moderate pleasure of every man the same with prayer and thanksgiving may be vsed or refused for the vse of this life without offence to God nevertheles we greatly stand in doubt whether the Christian Magistrates authoritie reach so farr as to command that the worke of mans hands be vsed in the outward worship of the true God which for the pollution and prophanation thereof in the service of an Idoll is become for the service of the true God abhominable and damned Nay if Hezekiah King of Iudah be commended in holy Writt for doing vprightly in the sight of the Lord when he brake in pieces the brasen Serpēt called it a piece of brasse when the children of Israell by burning incense to it abused it to Idolatrie notwitstanding the same were first set vp by Moyses at the commandement of God How much more ought Christian Magistrates to destroy and to breake in pieces all maner workes of mens handes never commanded in holy writt either for the

integrity But by your Lordships favour all men have not knowledge of the Idoll as you have All mens knowledge among vs doth not edifie but by their knowledge many men be puffed vp All men among vs professe not a detestation of their pollutions All men doe not knowe those betters from whom as you say they were taken Neither lastly doe all men vnderstande what that ancient integritie is whereof you speake The Papistes you know as they daily commit fornication with that great whore so doe they greatly delite and much solace them selves to see their minionly Priestes attired in the vnchast colours of their wanton paramoure Nay with great insolencie and ostentation they vaunt that Crosses Surplices c. are to be received and vsed not as things indifferent but as necessarie parts of Gods divine worship The Atheistes as they neither embrace the doctrine nor reverence the person of the Minister of Christ much lesse doe they regard from whence ministeriall apparell originally came Only if they live vnder an ordinary who glorieth to be a ceremonie master they can then find witt and opportunitie and agilitie and nimblenes ynough to make vse of these ceremonies as by them to worke mischief against their Godly Minister if at any time them selves be reproved for their drunkennes whoredome vsurie swearing poperie and such like But if any of them being of the age of 60. 70. or 80. yeares shal be willed by their honest ordinarie to returne home and to learne of their Minister the Catechisme before they prosecute their presentment for the not wearing of a Surplice in this case rather then they wil be religiously taught the principles of godlines at their Ministers hand they force not for xxv yeares space together to bee wholy silent Liking in the meane while the not wearing of a Surplice well ynough And as for our partes and others of the Religion we doubt very much whether your Lordships be able to prove that the Surplice the crosse in Baptisme or kneeling in the act of receiving the Communion were by their first originall of any integritie for an orderly or comely vse of outward divine service or worship as now they be vsed yea or no For though now they bee vrged as decent and comely signes and ornaments to the forme of Gods worship yet if at the beginning they were not for this end and purpose drawne directly or by consequence from some expresse commandement of God but were meerely the devises inventions of men then can we not assure our selves that they be restored to their ancient integritie For how should their originall bee of ancient integritie when they had beginning not from the will of God but from the witt of man not from the Well of life but from the pitt of death when they were not pure but corrupt therefore without integritie For which cause we are to beware least we be taken in a snare by them provoking the Lord to anger through the workes of our owne hands And howsoever these ceremonies be taken from men better affected to the Gospell then be the Papistes neverthelesse seeing servants be they never so young are not to be guided by their fellow servants be they never so old without knowledge of their Lord Masters pleasure first declared vnto them by his Prophets or Apostles we pray your Lordships to prove vnto vs out of holy Writt that these ceremonies hold their originall from God For if they be not according to the old way which is the good way and wherein we are bidd to stand and to behold and to aske after it namely the Testimonie which is bound vp and the Law which is sealed vp among Gods Disciples then shall the Pastours offend for running about so much to change their wayes going after things that doe not profit yea if they doe not according to this word they may iustly be reproved because their is no light in them The ancienty then of your ceremonies let the same be as ancient as possibly ye can devise yet in respect of the ancient of dayes and of him that inhabiteth the eternitie they shal be but novelties and the Author of them but a novelist For as this saying in the Schoole of reason is true omne magnum tum est paruum cum sit aliquid maius so is this saying also in the same Schoole true omne vetus tum est novum cum sit aliquid vetustius Yea and the holy Scriptures teach vs to call those things new whatsoever man inventeth be the errour never so old They have saith the holy Ghost offered vnto Devills not vnto God but to gods whom they knew not new gods that came newly vp whom their Fathers feared not And in an other place they are pronounced to be accursed when they turne after other gods which they have not known whereby also is reproved the vanitie and fondnes of those men which leave that which is certeine to follow that which is vncerteine If the Apostle then the first and most ancient father of all the children whom he begate with the word of the Gospell and the planter of all the Churches among the Gentils never knew those or any the like rites ornaments or ceremonies much lesse never knew them to be for any decent and orderly forme of Gods worship in any of the churches which he begate and which he planted it must needes follow as wee conceave that the children of the Church who devised and appointed these rites and ceremonies for an orderly and decent forme of Gods worship in the ages succeeding the Apostles left the ancient integritie together with the certaine and single forme of Gods worship setled in the Apostolicall churches without any ministeriall apparrell crossings or kneelings in the act of receiving the communion And so following their owne hearts became Novelistes vnto the Apostles in these vncerteine and new found ceremonies Neither for the poynt in question is it materiall whether they were children next and immediatly succeeding the Apostles yea or no For so soone as they declined from that integritie simple maner of Gods worship and from that certeyntie wherein the Apostle left the Churches even so soone was their vncerteyne and newly start vp forme of Gods worship corrupt and impure For when the Lord hath once spoken wordes and doeth add no more thereby we are taught by his example to lay our handes vpon our mouthes to bee content with his word and to add nothing of our owne Yea and we bee warned to beware least our heartes deceyve vs and least we turne aside by devisinge foolish inventions according to our owne fantasies Wherefore your Lordships argument of such ancientie and of such integritie of these ceremonies as declineth from that ancient and in al poyntes and qualities certeyne and vpright forme of Gods worshippe practised without Copes Surplices Crosses and kneelings in the acte of receyving the communion