Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	commandment_n	day_n	sabbath_n	2,361	5	9.9605	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10190	Lord bishops, none of the Lords bishops. Or A short discourse, wherin is proved that prelaticall jurisdiction, is not of divine institution, but forbidden by Christ himselfe, as heathenish, and branded by his apostles for antichristian wherin also sundry notable passages of the Arch-Prelate of Canterbury in his late booke, intituled, A relation of a conference, &c. are by the way met withall.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1640 (1640)	STC 20467; ESTC S115311	76,101	90

and just Lawes and not by a Lawlesse Tyranny which it selfe is an Hierarchicall Tyranny and such as Tyranniseth over soules bodies and estates Or can Prelates be true Friends to Princes who under a false vizard of Friendship labour to corrupt them by their flattery to make them forget they are men to make them disaffected with their good Subjects to make them the Authors of Innovation in Religion by suppressing the Truth by their publicke Edicts which tends to fill the People with discontents and to stirre up Sedition and the like Can this be safe for Monarchie or peaceable for the Civil State or a thing in it selfe most Christian Nor is it so onely with our present Prelates Revolve all Histories since Antichrists exaltation and ye shall find that never any great Treasons have been either against the persons of Princes or their Civil States if they were but suspected of disaffection to the Papacy or Romish Religion but either a Prelate or some of his faction had his finger in it But there it may suffice that our eyes have been witnesses of the effects of Prelaticall pranks and practises in being so busie and bold to bring in againe the Romish Religion and after the Gospel had taken such deep rooting So as if our Kings wisdome had not been the greater in composing things in a peaceable way as foreseeing the dangerous Consequences that might have ensued in case he should have by a strong hand gone about to have reduced that Antic bristian Government into that Kingdome which it had now cast out God knows what wofull calamities such a Warre might have produced But blessed be God for preventing it Againe As the Pope lifts up himselfe above and against all Emperious Kings and Princes yea setting his feet on their necks causing them to hold his stirrop to lead his palfrey and doe such like Offices as his Holinesse Booke of Ceremonies and other Histories shew to hold their Kingdomes in Fee from him and the like and as his Cardinalls take place of Kings his Arch-prelates of Dukes his Prelates of Lords So our Prelates which come from them and pro●esse still to be of one and the same Church with them of one and the same Hierarchicall Catholicke Church of one and the same Faith and Religion as before is noted doe they not the like according to their proportion and degree Doe not Archprelates take place of Dukes and Prelats of Lords Nay doe they not set their feet upon the neck of the Kings Laws while they though as yet de jure they cannot yet de facto they doe exempt themselves from them in that they by their power in Court and threatnings in their own Courts so terrifie all Prohibitions that they dare not peep or shew their Faces in the High-Commission as the Author of the * Apologie and Two Sermons For God and the King hath observed though he hath payd dearely for his truth telling Thus doe they not u`praírethai highly exalt themselves above all that is called God as above Kings and Civil States while they dare thus withdraw their necks from under the obedience of their good and just Laws the benefit whereof the Kings good Subjects should enjoy in relieving themselves and their innocent Cause from the Prelates unjust and tyrannicall oppressions in the lawlesse proceeding in their Courts and so set their proud feet upon the Kings both Laws which are the sinews and loyall People which are the members of the same Body Politick whereof the King is the Head Do they not herein come neere their Father Pope who trampleth upon Emperours necks when they dare tread upon the Kings feet as ‡ the Serpent did upon Christs heele And for this Cause is the Hierarchie or Antichristianisme called by the Apostle the Mysterie of Iniquity Yea the Mystery tes a'nomías of Lawlessenesse for which cause the Head of this Mystery to wit the Grand Antichrist or the Pope is called o`anomos that Lawlesse one which our English turnes That wi●ked So as here may fitly come in Antichrists Fift Title o` a'nomos that Lawlesse one This the Pope proves himselfe to be as being subject to no Laws either of God or man So as he saith he hath all Laws folded up in the Cabinet of his own brest as being the great Oracle of the world and the onely infallible Iudge in matters of Faith at least when he Sits in Peters Chaire and that he can dispense with the Apos●●● and the like But how doth his agree with our Prelates Are they also such a'nomi such Lawlesse ones as to merit the next place to the Pope for the Title of Antichrist Yes surely they hold a correspondence with their Syre so as in all things they doe patrifare shew themselves to be his Sons Of their Lawlessenesse in regard of Subjection to Princes Laws we spake but now And now remaines to shew how they are Lawlesse in regard of Gods Laws First their Hierarch●e is 〈◊〉 at all nor in any thing as neither g●o●●ded so regulated by the Law of God and of C●●ist but meerly by their own Lawlesse Canons which are the Laws of their Lawlesse Kingdome Yea and when they list they have a Prerogative to goe either beyond or against their Canons in case their lust find not scope enough Secondly as is noted before they not onely can dispense with Gods Law but dare and doe annihilate it and make it of no authority For they doe unmoralize the 4th Commandement as concerning the Sabbath day for Christians they allow profane Sports thereon which Gods Law hath altogether forbidden they forbid preaching on that day which Gods word commandeth to be both in season and out of season they altogether forbid preaching of the Doctrines of Grace which Gods word commends unto us and commands to be preached they Suspend the sense of the Articles of Religion touching Gods free Grace thereby giving way to the contrary Errours which they forbid Preachers to confute flatly against * Gods Commandement they dispense with the fift Commandement dissolving the bond of obedience in Children and Servants to the Parents and Masters and stripping those Governours of their Authority over them while they give them liberty to Sport and run riot on the Lords day and threaten all that shall dare to controule them And herein also they destroy Mans Law for the Law of the Land no where either allows any such profane Sports on the Lords dayes but flatly forbids them or forbids Parents and Masters to restraine their youth from such profanati●ns or to correct them if they offend and will not obey then Lawfull Commands nor much lesse hath the Law of the Land given any such power and authority to any Civil Magistrate or other to punish those that shal be brought before them for exercising their lawfull authority over those under their charge And we all know that the Prelates had the chiefe hand not onely in penning but in publishing that Booke for Sports on

humane Law and in their own Names as absolute and independent Lords as those Heathen Princes did Thus have they not with the Beast their Syre in the * Revelation made a perfect Image of the first Beast to wit of the Heathen Empire from top to toe whose whole forme and State of Dominion they set up in their Prelaticall Hierarchie Doth not the ‡ Beast which cometh out of the earth having two hornes like a Lamb but speakes as a Dragon which is the Papall Hierarchie exercise all the power of the first Beast before him namely of the Roman Emperour there described yea and cause the Earth with all that dwell therein to worsh●p the first Beast that is to subject themselves to the Throne and Authority of the Hierarchie which is now invested with an absolute Imperiall independent power which yet they blush not to affirme to be jure divino and from Christ himselfe How can any thing be more diametrically contrary to Christs words here It shall not be so among you Yes saith this Shamelesse Beast it shal be so with us and this Imperiall jurisdiction we doe and will exercise over the People As they doe indeed Yea these Spirituall Lords do not only exercise all the power of the first Beast as of Heathen Princes over the bodies and goods of men by imprisoning fyning undoing of Men and their whole Families yea and faggotting also the deare Saints and Servants of God onely by a pretty conveyance making the Civil Magistrate to be their executioner as the High Priests having condemned Christ delivered him over to the Secular Power to Pilate the Roman Governour but they also usurpe and exercise a most transcendent and Tyrannicall Dominion over the Soules and Consciences of Gods people as whose Canons and Constitutions even their whole Canon Law written in blood signified by their red Inke like to Draco his Laws which for their cruelty were sayd to be written in blood● are most cruelly pressed upon the peoples soules for a full conformitie to all those humane Rites and Ceremonies of their will-worship in their Divine Service as they call it A bondage infinitely more bloody and cruel then that of Gods people of old under the Egiptian Taskmasters And yet not withstanding all these things is this their Lordly and Princely Jurisdiction jure Divino from Christ Or are Prelates herein the Apostles Successors Were the Apostles ever such Princes Lived they in such Palaces Kept they such Courts Did they imprison persecute and undoe Gods Saints Did they make any Canons or Laws for will worship Did they presse so much as any one ragge of a Ceremony of their own devising upon the Conscience of any of Gods people Nay did they not expresly forbid and condemn it Not as Lords over Gods Heritage saith * Peter to the Presbyters Not as having dominion over your Faith saith ‡ Paul to Gods Ministers and People Yea this was also one branch of that Dominion which the Heathen Emperours exercised over the people namely to force their Conscienses in matters of Religion ‡ Darius made a Decree that none should make any request to God or Man for 30. dayes save to the King alone § Nebuchadnezzar proclaimes his Commandment that all should fall downe and worship his golden Image And Iulian the Apostata would force the Christians to offer sacrifice to his Idols or at least to cast but a little incense upon the fire before them And such as refused were sorely persecuted punished yea put to death And doe not the Prelates exercise the like Dominion over mens Soules I say even to the utter undoing and exterminating of all those that refuse to submit their necks to such an Antichristian yoake Nay doe they not fast Chaine to their Tyranny all Ministers that take their Oath of Canonicall obedience even as Temporall Princes take an Oath of Allegiance of their Subjects● Only here is the difference the Subjects are by their Oath bound to the Prince to obey him according to Gods Law and the Laws of the Land but Prelates by imposing the Oath of Canonicall obedience doe exact of all Ministers absolute and unlimited obedience to all their Canons not onely those in being although they be both contrary to Christs Law and are not authorised by the Law of the Land but to whatsoever other Canons they should in time frame and compose Which was one great Coale that hath caused the Smoaking out of all the Prelates out of our neighbour Countrey Thus we see that the Prelates exercising the like yea even the same Authority and Dominion which the Heathen Princes used in all points over their People are here flatly and expresly forbidden by Christ himselfe So as their Pr●lacie is so farre from being sure divino of divine Authority as that it is an open rebellion against Christ and his Kingdome and a very trampling of his words under their feet But it shall not be so among you Againe for the words in Luke The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors But ye shall not be so Ye shall not be called e'uergétai Benefactors or Gracious Lords as some Translations render it In which word or Title Christ forbids all such Titles to be assumed by his Apostles as are Heathenish or such as did set forth the magnificence pompe and State of Heathen Princes or such Titles as the Scripture doth not give to Gods Ministers Now it was not unusuall with the Heathen to call their Kings who were the greatest tyrants and oppressors of the People * Benefactors or the like in flattery of them Thus they did incrustare vitia parget or roughcast their vices as the Poet speakes And it seems the Popes learned of the Heathen this fashion of changing of their Names as if he were deformed to call him Formosus if cruel Clemens c. But for Prelates are they not called Euergetae Benefactors your Grace your Honour Right reverend most Reverend Father in God My Lord My Reverend Discesan My Patron and Benefactor Our Metropolitan Primate My Ordinary and many such like devised Titles no where to be found in Scripture but serving to bolster out their Pontificiall pride All such Titles Christ forbids to his Disciples here as elswhere also ‡ Be ye not called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are brethren And call no man Father upon Earth such Fathers as Prelates are called for one is your Father which is in heaven Neither be ye called Masters for one it your Master even Christ But the Prelates will say Distingue tempora Distinguish the times the Apostles were poore the Church was then but in the Infancie Swadling clouts might serve the Turne but now we that are the Successors of the Apostles are men grown and know how to use the honours pleasures and preferments of the world being cast upon us and being now promoted to be

Church-Government of those Bishops of old as our moderne Prelates themselves are unlike them in manner of life for these are persecuters of the Gospel those were persecuted and suffered Martyrdome for Christ Thus it is false that he saith that the Church-Government now in England was in us● in the Primitive Church For to instance in one thing In those ancient Times Excommunication was not used for every trifle nor done in a blind Court nor denounced by a dumb Priest But enough of this Fourthly whereas he saith And yet the Seperatist condemnes her for Antichristianisme in her Discipline First as for the Seperatist as he calls him I thinke the Prelate with this his Book and other his Prelaticall practises hath made more Separatists from his Prelaticall Church of England then ever any that hath sit in the Chaire of Canterbury ever since his Predecessor Augustine first sate in it Nor doe I see how any Christian living in England can with a safe Conscience have communion with that Church which professeth as the Prelate doth in her Name to be one and the Same Church with Rome of one and the Same Faith and Religion Yea were it no more but that the Church of England professeth to be a Hierarchicall or Prelaticall Church which in that very respect is no true Church of Christ it were argument and cause sufficient to Seperate from her And that because Secondly he that is a true Seperatist from her for the former respects may justly condemne her for Antichristianisme in her Discipline For first She exerciseth She professeth no other Discipline but that which Antichrist the Pope and the whole Antichristian Romish Church exerciseth and professeth and that in all points Cap a pied from top to toe And this her Discipline is Antichristian as being of Antichrist and so against Christ and exercised in the maintenance of Antichrist For instance The Prelaticall Church of England hath lately found out a Discipline to censure punish imprison fine excommunicate degrade deprive and all these together him that shall dare to deny the Pope and Prelates to be jure divino Dr. Bastwicke did thus and so the High-Commission served him as aforesaid What Discipline then in the world can be more Antichirstian or more forcible to drive Christians from having any more communion with that Church which exercising such an Antichristian Discipline how can She shift off the just condemnation of Antichristianisme which they shall cast upon her Againe Secondly the whole Discipline of the Church of England as it is the Discipline which Antichrist and his Church exerciseth and therfore Antichristian So it is that which hath no footing but is expresly forbidden in the word of God as Antichristian and Tyrannicall For the Church of Englands Discipline stands most upon the imposition of sundry Ceremonies of humane invention and Antichristian observation which She presseth upon all mens Consciences and for default of Conformity layes grievous Censures upon them as Excommunication and the like Now all such Ceremonies so imposed both Christ himselfe condemneth * In vaine they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandements of men and the Apostle also throughout that whole Chapter of the Epistle to the Collossians doth charge Christians not to put their necks under any such yoake as whereby they are deprived of the benefit of Christs death and beguiled of their reward and spoyled of their Christian liberty and the like Againe the Prelates in imposing their Ceremonies are Antichristian because in so doing they usurpe Christs throne and therein fitting doe exercise a Tyranny over mens Consciences intolerable to be borne which if men will not yeeld unto they doe in as much as in them lyeth make them Anathemaes shut them out of the Church by Excommunication c. And lastly their Excommunication not onely in regard of the matter and cause for which it is namely because men will not renounce Christs service to take the Tyrannicall yoake of Antichrists Ceremonies upon the shoulders of their Consciences but for the very manner of it as it is used in the Church of England is a Discipline Antichristian as being against that form of Excommunication which is prescribed in the word of God and was practised in the Apostolicall Churches It was Christs rule Tell it to the Church that is to the Congregation and if the Offender will not heare the Congregation he is Excommunicate by and out of the Congregation And the Apostles rule is for such Offenders as deserve Excommunication * I verily saith he as absent in body but present in Spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ Whence I note that Excommunication is a Solemne businesse not to be inflicted for every trifling matter much lesse as the Pharisees did who excommunicated all those that confessed Christ nor to be done in a blind Court and by a single soled Priest nor the Offender to be released for the payment of his fees or by way of committing or the like all which are practised in the Discipline of the Church of England But Excommunication must not be but for a great offence nor done but by the whole Congregation nor released but upon the publique repentance confession and promise of reformation before the said Congregation where the offence was given and by whom the penalty is taken off Therfore the Discipline of the Church of England in this case is wholly Antichristian Lastly forasmuch as Prelates doe necessarily draw after them a Traine of Ceremonies as a Chaine of so many links wherwith they captivate ensnare and enslave the Consciences of men as their Motto is No Ceremonie no Bishop for they goe inseperably together like Tobie and his Dogge and the Church of England in her Discipline and Church-Service is wholly captivated by the Masters of such Ceremonies the Prelates and some Ceremonies are such as even doe deny the Lord that bought them as namely Altars and their Service and all the Ceremonies imposed upon the Conscience deny Christ to be the onely King of his Church all these taken together what between the Prelates and between their Ceremonies the Church of England and her Discipline is become Antichristian and therfore no marvail if for this cause good Christians that have knowledge and make Conscience doe Seperate from communion with any such Church CHAP. V. Wherein some other Passages of the Prelate are taken tripping though he would run away with it That his Hierarchie is Jure Divino HE saith * For the Calling and Authority of Bishops over the inferiour Clergie that was a thing of known use and benefit for preservation of unity and Peace in the Church And so