Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	aaron_n	abraham_n	govern_v	14	3	7.8292	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19267	An admonition to the people of England vvherein are ansvvered, not onely the slaunderous vntruethes, reprochfully vttered by Martin the libeller, but also many other crimes by some of his broode, obiected generally against all bishops, and the chiefe of the cleargie, purposely to deface and discredite the present state of the Church. Seene and allowed by authoritie.	Cooper, Thomas, 1517?-1594.	1589 (1589)	STC 5682; ESTC S118522	145,211	254

and the light of his holie worde as in deede you haue the cogitation of this benefite shoulde moue your mindes more fauourably to thinke of them and more charitably to iudge of their doinges Or if you doe not looke that you leaue not great occasion to men to thinke of you that you make light accompt of that doctrine of the Gospell which aswell their predecessours as they haue and doe daily preach vnto you and so that you bee not those men that you would pretende to bee For men will thinke this If these persons did fauour the Gospell they woulde rather seeke meanes to hide the blemishes and imperfections of their Prelates and Preachers then thus odiously to amplifie and paint foorth their discredite to their vtter shame and reproche in the worlde For as much as in them lyeth through their sides in the hearts and mindes of manie they giue a mortall wound to the doctrine which by them hath now these manie yeeres beene taught in this Realme For will men iudge trowe you that after so great darkenesse and ignoraunce of Gods woorde as the Churche of Christ is reported by vs to haue beene wrapped in that God woulde restore and sende vnto the same the light of his trueth by so wicked and naughtie instruments as these men be imagined to be For they condemne not onelie those Bishops and ministers that be now in place but their predecessors also whose place these men occupie and whose doctrine they confirme Men will thinke surely either that that doctrine which we call darknesse and errour was the true light or that these Preachers can not be so euill persons as malice doth make them Christ would not suffer that the deuill shoulde vtter any thing to the glorie of God and will he suffer deuillish and Antichristian persons to bee the chiefe Preachers and restorers of his Gospell GOD alwaies hath appointed godlie men to be the teachers and reuiuers of his trueth as Abraham with the other Patriarches Moses Aaron Dauid the Prophets the Apostles And in our dayes Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Cranmer Ridley Iewell c. For God is neuer destitute of his godly captaines to gouerne his Church and to set foorth his word Obiection Oh but our Bishops and preachers bee couetous they giue not to the poore they imbesill the goodes of the Church they bee woorkers and clokers of Simonie they hinder reformation of the Church c. Answere But how know you that It were safe for your consciences first to trie and knowe the trueth before you rashly to condemnation iudge your brother Common speeches and coniecturall collections doe oftentimes prooue false Doe you think that al is true which is spoken of your selues I appeale to your owne consciences Surely hee must bee a very happie man in these dayes of whome some euill is not spoken which in his owne conscience hee knoweth not to bee true Nowe if this may and doeth happen to most priuate persons howe is it not likely that it happeneth also to Bishops and ecclesiasticall Ministers Yea of all other it is most like that they shoulde feelethe bitternesse of false and backbiting speeches The Ministers of God haue beene alwayes subiect to that crosse And in these dayes they haue to doe with so manie and diuers kindes of enemies as it is not possible for them to escape the daunger thereof On the one side is the Papist whose errours they confute whose obstinacie they punish On the other side are the phantasticall spirites of Anabaptists Of the families of the loue and sundry others of the like sort whose wickednesse and corrupting of the church is by our ecclesiastical gouernors drawen into the light reproued repressed Yea beside these there are an infinit number of Epicures and Atheistes which hate the Bishops and speake euil of them and wish them to be taken away partly because they are as bridles to their loose and wicked life partlie because they staye from them that spoyle and praye which nowe for a fewe yeeres with great hope they haue gaped after and with much adoe is holden out of their iawes Moreouer who knoweth not that they which haue the office of iudging correcting and reproouing other bee their doinges neuer so sincere shall often light into the displeasure and misliking of manie and thereby gette misreport Therefore seeing Bishoppes and other chiefe of the Clergie are besette with so manie difficulties and lie in daunger ofso manie aduersaries no maruaile though their blemishes bee amplified and as the prouerbe is of euery moul-hill made a great mountaine Yea no maruaile though their best doinges and sincerest meaninges by mislikers are depraued and with hard and vncharitable interpretations wrested to their reproofe Wherfore al Christians that haue the feare of God loue his trueth but principally the chief gouernours that haue authoritie to deale with the Clergie ought to take great heed that by such deprauing reports they bee not carried to mislike or discredite them which neuer iustly deserued so great reproofe Let them diligently consider what may fall vnto themselues also beeyng in place subiect to like obloquie What meant Saint Paul when he saide Against an elder receiue no accusation vnder two or three witnesses Surely he did see that the office of teachers and reproouers iudges and gouernors lieth in great daunger of euill speech and false accusations and therefore would not haue them rashly condemned either in priuate or publike iudgement much lesse to bee defaced and contemned to be disobeyed and resisted yea though they were more grieuous offenders then standeth with the worthinesse of their offices Aaron had grieuously offended and greatly distayned his calling when hee was the Minister to make the golden Calfe and to further the peoples horrible and shamefull idolatrie I trust all the enemies that the Bishops and Cleargie men of England haue shall neuer bee able to prooue that in this time of the Gospell anie one of them did euer commit an offence either so horrible and displeasant in the sight of God or so hurtfull and offensiue to the Church And yet after that when Corah Dathan and other did call him proude Prelate and saide that hee and his brother vsed tyrannie ouer the people of God howe grieuously God did take it and howe dreadfull punishment came vpon them for misusing the Ministers of GOD the historie doeth sufficiently declare yea though many of the offenders were of the highest state birth and linage among the people Obiection But it is a common Obiection many thinke they sufficiently excuse their contempt when they say That our Bishops Preachers speake well and teach other to doe well but they followe not the same themselues and therefore men doe not beleeue them nor be any thing mooued with their preaching Answere But I say vnto you if you followe any doctrine in respect of the person that speaketh it you doe not like good Christians yea if Paul speake any thing of

indifferent and not to iudge euil of such as did vse them Shortly after rose vp other defending that they were not thinges indifferent but distayned with Antichristian idolatrie and therefore not to bee suffered in the Church Not long after came forth an other sort affirming that those matters touching Apparell were but trifles and not worthie contention in the Church but that there were greater thinges farre of more weight and importance and indeede touching faith and religion and therefore meete to be altered in a Church rightly refourmed As the booke of Common prayer the administration of the Sacraments the gouernment of the Church the election of Ministers and a number of other like Fourthly now breake out another sort earnestly affirming and teaching that we haue no Church no Bishops no Ministers no Sacraments and therfore that all they that loue Iesus Christ ought vvith all speede to separate themselues from our congregation because our assemblies are prophane vvicked and Antichristian THis haue you heard of foure degrees prepared for the ouerthrow of this state of the Church of England Now lastly of all come in these men that make their whole direction against the liuing of bishops and other Ecclesiasticall ministers that they shoulde haue no Temporall landes or iurisdiction that they shoulde haue no stayed liuings or possession of goods but onely a reasonable Pension to finde them meate drinke and cloth and by the pouerty of their life contempt of the world to be like the Apostles For say they riches and wealth hath brought all corruption into the Church before time and so doth it now Answere Novv is the enemie of the Church of God come almost to the point of his purpose And if by discrediting of the Ministers or by coumenance of gaine and commoditie to the Prince and Nobilitie or by the colour of Religion and holinesse or by any cunning he can bring this to passe as before I haue signified hee so reseeth that learning knovvledge of good letters and studie of the tongues shall decay aswel in the Vniuersities as other wayes which haue bene the chiefe instruments to publish and defend the doctrine of the Gospell and to inlarge the kingdom of Christ And then of necessitie his kingdome of darkenesse errour and heresie must rise againe and leaue this land in worse state then euer it was before But to perswade this matter more pithily to couer the principal purpose with a cloake of holinesse it is saide and in very earnest maner auouched and that by the word of God that neither the Prince can giue it them nor suffer them to vse it without the danger of Gods wrath and displeasure nor they ought to take it but to deliuer it vp againe into the Princes hand or els they shal shew them selues Antichristian Bishops vaine glorious lucres men not ashamed professing God to continue in that drossie way and sowre lumpe of dough that corrupteth the whole Church and brought out the wicked botch of Antichrist This doctrine as it is boldely affirmed God himselfe hath vttered Christ hath taught his Apostles haue written the Primitiue church cōtinued the holy Fathers witnessed the late writers vphold as it must forsooth be prooued by the whole course of the scriptures of the old and new Testament But good Christians be not feared away with this glorious countenance and these bigge wordes of a bragging champion I trust you shall perceiue that this doctrine is neither vttered by God nor taught by Christ nor writtē by his Apostles nor witnessed by ancient writers nor vpholden by learned men of our time but that it is rather a bolde and dangerous assertion vttered by some man of very small skill countenanced with a fevv wrested Scriptures contrary to the true meaning of God the father Christ his sonne and of his holy Apostles and a little shadowed with vaine allegations of writers either of no credite or little making to the purpose And surely how great and earnest zeale how vehement loftie wordes so euer the vtterer of this assertion vseth it may be suspected that either he is not himself soundly perswaded in true religion or if he be that of simplicitie negligence or ignorance he was abused by some subtile and craftie Papist that woulde set him forth to the derision of other to thrust out into the world and openly broach this corrupt and dangerous doctrine Wherefore it were good that they which wil take vpon them to be the furtherers of such new deuises should better looke to their proofe witnesses vnlesse they wil seeme to abuse al men to thinke that they liue in so loose negligent a state that nothing shalbe examined that they speake but that al things shalbe as easily receiued as they may be boldly vttered But I trust those that haue the feare of God and care of their soules will not be afraide of vaine shadowes nor by and by beleeue all glorious brags but take heed that they be not easily led out of the way by such as wil so quickly be deceiued themselues I do not answere their vaine Arguments because I feare that any discreete or learned man wil be perswaded with them but because I mistrust that the simple and ignorant people or other that be not acquainted with the Scriptures by the very name and reuerence of the word of God will be carried away without iust examination of them To descend something to the consideration of the matter marke I pray you the Proposition that is to be proued It is not that they may be good Bishops and ministers of the Church which haue neither glebe nor temporall landes to liue on It is not that there were in the primitiue Church and nowe are in sundry places churches well gouerned which haue not lands allotted vnto them It is not that the Apostles had no lands nor any other a number of yeeres after Christ For these poynts I thinke no man will greatly stand with them But this is the Assertion Obiection No Prince or magistrate by Gods worde may lawfully assigne lands to the ministers of the church to liue on but ought to set them to pensions Nor any of the Ecclesiasticall state can by the Scriptures enioy or vse any such landes but should deliuer them vp to the Prince c. Answere Looke I pray vou vpon this Assertion and consider it well Doe you not see in it euen at the first euident absurditie Do you not see a plaine restraint of Christian liberty as bold and as vnlawfull a restraint as euer the Pope vsed any Do you not espy almost a flat heresie as dangerous as many branches of the Anabaptists errors It is no better then an heresie to say that by the word of God it is prohibited for Ministers to marry It is no better then an heresie to affirme that Christian men by the lawe of God may not eate flesh or drinke wine Saint Paul doeth consecrate these to be Doctrines of Deuils