Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	part_n	universal_a	2,451	5	9.1017	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03335	Mystical babylon, or Papall Rome A treatise vpon those words, Apocal. 18.2. It is fallen, it is fallen Babylon, &c. In which the wicked, and miserable condition of Rome, as shee now is in her present Babylonian estate, and as she shall be in her future ineuitable ruine, is fully discouered: and sundry controuersiall points of religion, betwixt the Protestants, and the Papists, are briefly discussed. By Theophilus Higgons, rector of the parochiall Church of Hunton, neere Maidstone in Kent.	Higgons, Theophilus, 1578?-1659.	1624 (1624)	STC 13455; ESTC S118140	129,351	289

head of the Church of Rome descendeth vnto the members For as the Cardinalls who are the great regotiatours in the publike affaires of the world are the cosins of mightie Kings who salute them by that affable and gracious name as being glad and ambitious of the affection of these purpled Fathers in the Apostolicall Court so the whole bodie of the shaued Clergy pretendeth an exemption from the lawfull iurisdiction of their naturall Lords as being subiects secundum quid after a certaine manner or measure and a body rather collected and vnited vnder the Pope then vnder their owne Souereignes in whose Lands they receiued their first breath and vnder whose protection they enioy their liuelyhood with the preseruation of their liues FOVRTHLY this pride appeareth in his domination ouer the whole Church as first that all spirituall power of order and iurisdiction is deriued from his Apostolicall Seate that hee can depriue suspend excommunicate such as withstand his pleasure that appellations may be made and in some cases must be made vnto him from the sentences and censures of Bishops in all places of the world that he may demand and receiue a supply of monyes and necessaries for the vse and benefit of his Apostolicall greatnesse that hee is answerable to no power in the Church or State that hee may by reseruations and prouisions bestow Ecclesiasticall benefices vpon whom hee will in any part of the Christian world that he is greater then all the Church and is in truth and effect the very Church which being essentially in the whole societie of Christians is representatiuely in a lawfull Councell and virtually in the Pope so that finally the Church their Mother is the Pope their Father who is the Lord the Head the Guide the Pastour the Vniuersall Bishop of the Church Which insolencies and oppressions in the Holy Father made Gerson bitterly to complaine That the Head of the Church was growen too heauy for the whole bodie thereof and our learned Countrey-man Bishop Grosthead to pronounce That the Church would neuer be freed from the yoake of her Aegyptian bondage but by the dint and edge of a bloudie sword FIFTHLY and lastly his pride appeareth in his great and glorious titles taken vp partly by himselfe and partly ascribed vnto him by others with gratefull appobation of the Apostolicall Seate As for example hee is a Vice-God as in that inscription Paulo Quinto Vice-deo where the numerall letters V. L. V. I. V. C. D. make vp the fatall number of 666. containing the mysterie of Antichrist his name Apocal 13.18 but this is too little therefore hee is plainly a God nay that is too little also he is our Lord God as I shewed you once before and yet sometimes Nec Deus es nec homo sed neuter es inter vtrumque Thou ô Souereigne of the World art neither God nor man therefore Antichrist for Christ is both but art betwixt both neither the one nor the other Hee is Dominus dominorum quoad potestatem the Lord of Lords in regard of his power though Seruus seruorum quoad humilitatem saith bald Baldus the Seruant of Seruants and be it so but in the sense of Noah in his malediction of Canaan Genes 9.25 in regard of his meekenesse O meeke and humble Saint whose ordinarie title hath beene his Holinesse his Blessednesse more compatible with his Apostolicall office then his Maiestie which is indeed the pleasing and acceptable stile vnto which their proud and tyrannicall vsurpations doe aspire And therefore this was well attibuted vnto Paulus the fifth by Ludouicus ab Alcasar the Iesuite in his dedicatorie Epistle prefixed before his miserable exposition of this mysticall booke Yet thou wast more wise and circumspect ô noble and victorious Iulius Caesar that diddest refuse the title of a King and thou wast more modest ô Princely Augustus that diddest reiect the title of a Lord. But behold here is a greater then both which accepteth all alloweth all as indeed challenging a great deale more Let him then take one title more to furnish vp his glorious stile hee is Lucifer in his pride ambition and insultation ouer all States Ciuill Ecclesiasticall as the pretended Lord of both The THIRD Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe third point wherein this comparison doth stand is INIVRIOVS VIOLENCE against the Crowne Imperiall and Estates of Souereigne Princes in which tempestuous courses the Spirituall Babylon of Rome doth exceed the Literall in Chaldea and the rather because the later had a speciall commission in this behalfe which the former doth vainely pretend by lame deductions and inferences but cannot prooue directly by the testimonie of any Scripture The commission of Nebuchadnezzer was vnder the warrant of God himselfe as being the executioner of his seuere Iustice and therefore God affoordeth him the title of his Seruant not onely for his expedition against Tyrus Ezek. 29.18 but against his owne people Ierem. 25.9 Now our Babylonian Monarch not by the authoritie of Gods Word not by any cleere euidence of reason founded vpon the same not by any example of his predecessors or of any other Bishop in the more pure and innocent state of the Church but out of his owne appetite and desire of temporall power which Christ gaue him not which the ancient Popes challenged not which they durst not pretend nor could they execute till the decadencie and expiration of the Romane Monarchy in these occidentall parts hath often thrust the sickle of his forged authoritie into the haruest of other mens Kingdomes Witnesse the distressed King of Nauarre Iohn d' Albret mentioned before sententially deposed by the Pope and a part of his Kingdome thereupon inuaded by his neighbour the King of Spaine Witnesse my deare Countrey of England in the time of that vnfortunate Prince King Iohn whose Kingdome was by Papall authoritie exposed vnto the furie of the French the King himselfe being compelled like a silly man to surrender his Crowne vpon his knees into the hands of an Apostolicall insolent Legate and so remaining for the space of fiue daies without a Crowne committed now vnto the benignitie of the Church hee receiued it againe vpon such base and ignoble termes as it pleased my Lord the Legate to impose vpon him one whereof was if the Babylonians say true that he should hold it by fealtie from the Church of Rome and for acknowledgement thereof pay an annuall tribute vnto the Pope so wise and skilfull are these men to fish in troubled waters being now not fishers of men but fishers of Kingdomes Witnesse England againe in the time of King Henry the eight who by a Papall processe of Paul the third was depriued of his Kingdome and his subiects commanded by force and armes to eiect him out of the confines therof the successe whereof was for a time troublesome to the King but in the end inglorious to the Pope the tenour of whose roaring Bull and Capitoline thunderbolt deserueth your speciall

perhaps may beare some shew of bloud but wonder at this that Pasce oues meas Feede my Sheepe saith Christ vnto Peter Iohn 21.16 should approue these killing courses in the Pope these violent depositions of Princes these rebellious insurrections of people But it doth so and in whose iudgement euen of Bellarmine himselfe De Rom. Pont. lib. 5. cap. 7. Who thence inferreth a certaine and necessary power in the Pope to depose two sorts of Princes the one hereticall whom he compareth vnto cruell Wolues the other irregular whom hee compareth vnto vnruly Rammes and therefore saith hee since the Pope is Pastour of the vniuersall Church and hath an Office to feed the SHEEPE that is to say all faithfull Christians hee must haue a power to restraine and resist such WOLVES and RAMMES as trouble and infest the flocke So that in conclusion Pasce in Bellarmine and Occide in Baronius according to the new Grammer and Diuinitie of Babylon meet both in one centre of signification and in one issue of sense O skilfull Mercurialists to draw bloud out of the veines of the holy Scripture Yet these are the men that opprobriously and scornfully obiect this textuall folly vnto the Diuines of the Reformed Church in misapplying the Scriptures vnto their misguided fancies But now I proceed to make a sufficient remonstrance of bloudie crueltie in their mysticall Babylon by foure seuerall and inuincible demonstrations thereof FIRST then the crueltie of Babylon appeareth in raysing vp subiects against their naturall Lords to the inualuable expense of Christian bloud England can say some thing in this behalfe not onely in the more ancient times as of King Iohn who with his people suffered much by the instinct and operation of Rome but in these latter times both of King Henrie the Eighth against whom some noble Persons conspired and some meaner Subiects rebelled by the procuration of Rome to the losse of their bloud which shall be found in her and in the Halcyonian dayes of Queene Elizabeth by insurrections in the North by clancular and secret Treasons of damnable Parricides by hostile inuasions resolued against England and in part effected in Ireland all depending vpon Babylon and issuing from her designes which instructed her Priests to seduce the people heere from their iust obedience whence ensued the iust execution of both by the necessary prouision of the Lawes and in the happy Reigne of our most gracious Souereigne Lord King Iames who therefore enacted a speciall and prudent Law by consent of the Peeres and People of this Kingdome to try thereby the alleageance and fidelitie of his subiects which Oath finding so much opposition and impugnation from the Babylonian Monarch did minister an ineuitable necessitie vnto this State to draw some bloud from such Priests as rather obserued and respected the Papall Seate of Babylon then the Royall Crowne of England And this bloud so iustly shed will bee found not in England but in Babylon it selfe But France may speake much more in that generall and bloudie Massacre vnder Charles the Ninth procured by Babylonian operations and therefore when the report thereof came vnto Rome shee like a bloudie Whore so the Scripture calleth her applauded that Thracian or rather Scythian crueltie of her children sang her Te Deum in publique gratulation of that horrible fact disbursed her Indulgences out of her spirituall Treasures for the benefit of the cruell Murtherers and so sent her gifts abroad as reioycing in their ruine Apocal. 10.11 c. France can yet speake more which in the end of the Reigne of Henrie the Third and beginning of the Reigne of Henrie the Fourth opened the veines of her bodie and let forth streames of her owne bloud by the prouocation of Babylon till it was stanched by the vnhappie submission of that great King vnto the Triple-crowne Yet then also hee could not bee secure for some principall Babylonians supposing that the King confessed that with his mouth which hee denied in his heart Iohn Chastell a young Disciple of old Iesuites was suborned to offer violence vpon the sacred Maiestie of the Kings person but could not performe that Tragicall act which Rauilliac did afterwards effectuate with his most wicked hand But I proceed Germany can speake more then any other Nation whose terrible warres stirred continued and supported by the meanes of Babylon for many yeeres in the reigne of sundry Emperours embrued the earth with copious effusion of Christian bloud making it a true Adamah an earth red with bloud and giuing it her originall name againe As for Italy shee cannot be silent in this case if she remember the bloudy faction of her Guelphs and Gibelines with sundry warres raised vp by Papall furie and sometimes managed by their owne persons forgetting that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword Matth. 26.52 What shall I say of the Holy Land it selfe which in tedious and expensiue warres procured enterprised by Papall motions and what the Pope could not performe with his owne temporall meanes to assist this warre hee performed by the Spirituall Exchequer dispensing his Indulgences thence to further and aduance the same consumed much treasure of the Christians and more of their bloud But you will say it was an heroicall and glorious act I answer looke vnto the Popes designes and intentions therin with the issue of that glory You will say it was a pious and a religious act I answer the pretence is more specious then the enterprise is alwayes iust in such a case For it may be disputed Whether or how farre forth it is lawfull for Christian Princes vpon the pure and sole title of Religion to make such warres vpon the Turke who by the power of the sword and by submission of the people and by long possession hath such an interest into those lands the matter of faith and religion neither giuing vnto any Prince nor taking from any the proprietie of his temporall and worldly state Such is the doctrine of the sacred Scripture such was the practise of the ancient Church SECONDLY The crueltie of Babylon appeareth in stirring vp persecution against the professours of Gods eternall and inuincible truth which no policie of man no furie of diuells can possibly extinguish because it is founded vpon the true rock Christ Iesus and not vpon the pretensed rocke or rather stocke of the Apostaticall Seate in Babylon Now if I should here make a particular account of her crueltie in this kind against the persons of many Martyrs it would exceed the proportion of one or many Sermons Or if I would make it yet more generall by a suruey of persecutions in many Countries by sword and by fire which burning zeale yet lodgeth in their Scythian hearts the relation would bee as tedious as it is vnnecessary since the histories of sundry Nations are extant in this behalfe and a great part of them is diligently collected by the industrious pen of Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments of the

by these Kings so it shall fall by these Kings This is vnderstood in the words of the Scripture Apoc. 18. No man buyeth her ware any more of her that is to say The traffique of the Whore and spirituall negotiations of her Beast by Pardons Dispensations and other fornications as they are called shall cease vpon her ruine made by these Princes of the earth Whereas then Bellarmine saith the Pope shall still continue Bishop of Rome I answere not by any Souereignety and Dominion which Bellarmine perhaps may pretend that Antichrist shall not permit him actually to exercise in that time but wee affirme by demonstration of the Scripture that the ten Kings shall depriue him of that power in the world which he formerly enioyed by their concession which shall then expire Notwithstanding if Sibylla doe truely prophesie of Rome that it being once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength and power as S. Hierome descanted vpon her name shall afterwards become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a street as Lactantius doth record Inst l. 7. c. 25. the Bishop of Rome may perhaps remaine then in the qualitie and place of an ordinarie Bishop but shall not bee receiued any more as vniuersall Pastour of the Church not as the Beast was before not with such latitude of power not insulting againe ouer States and Churches And if the prophecie of Hildegardis a sacred Virgin of great reputation vpon the yeere 1150. be of any force the Bishop of Rome shall bee reduced vnto the condition of other Bishops c. as I haue seene and read in a very faire and ancient Manuscript of parchment concerning the predictions of that religious person If therefore I may expresse a graue matter by a light example namely of Sir Thomas Moore who hauing resigned his office of the Lord Chancellour came himselfe vpon the next Sunday vnto the Pew of his Ladie in the Parish Church of Chelsey speaking vnto her in his facetious and wittie manner Madame will you goe My Lord is gone which were formerly the vsuall words of her gentleman Vsher when the Lord Chancellour departed out of the Church so may I say in this case when Babylon shall be wasted with fire and the Beast shal be despoyled of his power Our Lord the Pope is gone but yet the Bishop may still remaine And then Christians may reckon ab vrbe euersâ as Pagans did ab vrbe conditâ when the power honour and glory of Babylon and her Beast shall perish and bee extinguished by the concordable operation of these great and puissant Kings who therefore will continually suppresse it that it may neuer increase and gather strength againe The SECOND Branch concerning PAPISTS I Speake not now of ordinary Papists but chiefe Babylonian Papists that is to say such as haue a speciall vnion and coniunction with the Pope in those things which appertayne vnto the Mysticall impietie of this second Beast Wherefore the name of a Papist is taken either from Poperie which hee doth defend or from the Pope to whom he doth adhere In the first acception I esteeme him a Papist that leauing the Pope in the principall and essentiall points of the Papacie doth yet beleeue sundry errors defined resolued and maintayned in the Romish Church vnder the gouernment and administration of the Pope of which kinde of Poperie and sort of Papists I shall treate more particularly in the third Branch which doth immediately ensue But now in the second acception he is really and formally a Papist who is vnited vnto the Pope not in regard of the Popes person but in regard of his seat place and dignitie which he vsurpeth in Babylon and therefore doth especially beleeue and follow the Pope in such particular points as depend vpon his Papall Office as namely The Popes temporall Superioritie ouer all Princes as being the chiefe and in truth the onely Souereigne of the World which is the peculiar and intimate character of the Antichristian Beast or at the least if he haue not this temporall power ouer all Princes directly as their Lord yet indirectly as Pastour of the Church to depose and dethrone them which indirect authoritie doth yet inuest him with a pretended iurisdiction ouer all the World and is a more subtile insinuation of the Babylonian Beast and that he hath an infallible iudgement as Pope in the controuersies of Religion to bind the whole World vnto his definition vpon paine of Ecclesiasticall censure which opinion being greatly imbraced in their Church and daily increasing suffered much opposition by the Sorbonists and generally by the Church of France and that from this Papall seate all Christians haue the practice and benefit of Indulgences the peculiar Ware of Babylon that this Apostolicall and Supreame Seat hath power to dispense with Oathes and with Mariages in certaine degrees of consanguinitie and affinitie and that all Christians must haue recourse vnto her for Dispensations Absolutions c. that vnto this seat belong Appellations from all parts of the Christian World as vnto the highest Authoritie vpon Earth by which courses they exhaust much treasure of all Kingdomes and vexe the subiects with tedious and expensiue trauels that this Beast hath power to call generall Councels and to ratifie or nullifie their Decrees and other Babylonian doctrines belonging to the mysterie of the second Beast In this sense and acception of a Papist King Henry the Eighth in his iust necessary and conscionable discession from the Church of Rome vpon the point of his vnlawfull Mariage with the Ladie Katherine his Brothers Wife which by Papall Dispensation was contracted against the Word of God and Law of Nature especially as her case did stand was now no longer a Papist because he reiected the Pope in these Mysteries of the Papacie and in all points that had dependencie vpon his Seat Office and pretensed Authoritie in the Church Whence it is that this magnanimous Prince iustly prouoked but vniustly handled by the holy Father writeth vnto Charles the Fift and to all Christian States in these very words Orbis intelligat varias PAPISTARVM fraudes c. and againe ne Papa Regum authoritate ad extir pandas crescentis Euangelij radices c. abuti possit So that though this King remayned still a Papist in the first acception howbeit he made an happy entrance also to the purgation of sundry abuses in the Church as by taking away some superstitious Feasts some highly respected Images some much adored Relikes the Word of God was translated into the vulgar tongue and many other things were done in his time for the reformation of blind and ignorant stupiditie in the Church yet notwithstanding in the mayne and essentiall things which specially giue the true denomination of a Papist he is to be exempted cleerely from the crime and contagion of this Title And yet as Iehu did performe the Worke of God imposed vpon him for the ruine of Baal and that Idolatry but departed not from other sinnes of Ieroboam and