Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	apostle_n	church_n	primitive_a	4,139	5	9.1134	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B11843	The tragedies of tyrantes Exercised vpon the church of God, from the birth of Christ vnto this present yeere. 1572. Containing the causes of them, and the iust vengeance of God vpon the authours. Also some notable comfortes and exhortations to pacience. Written by Henrie Bullinger, and now Englished.; Von der schweren, langwirigen Verfolgung der heiligen Christlichen Kirchen. English	Bullinger, Heinrich, 1504-1575.; Twyne, Thomas, 1543-1613.	1575 (1575)	STC 4078; ESTC S106917	68,333	200

there amonge them enie that lacked Likewise They continued euerie day with one accord in the temple praisinge God and giuinge thankes beefore all the people In this Church Congregation and fellowship were the Apostels of our Lorde and his threscore and ten disciples Ioseph of Arimathie Barsabas or Barnabas Nicodemus with other woorthie men moe but cheifly the holy and vndefiled virgin Marie mother of the Lorde Iesus Christe with diuerse other vertuous and deuout wemen whose vertue and renoume is disciphered in the Euangelicall history In this Church there were no diuisions no schismes and the numbre of them that béeléeued was aboue fiue thousande To conclude there was no Church in the Earth more excellent holy perfect or more acceptable to God. Howbeit god which suffred his owne sun to bée crucified suffred also this holy Church to fall into sutch afflictions and so general a persecution as we haue declared béefore And who is now so wicked and curious the in respect of this persecution dare step foorth and dispute against God and question with him wherfore he suffred his dearly beloued frends to bée so gréeuously afflicted whiche had deserued much better and so many good godly persons amonge whom christes mother was one whose most pure hart the sharp sword of sorow and heauines had perced through why likewise god gaue vnto the faithlesse Iewes hipocrites so great power ouer godly and iust men why raught he not his helpynge hand to his Church to help it causing the neither Steeuen should bée stoned neither the Church beinge spoyled of their goods be made poore or banished nether they which liued in sutch concorde togither with great sorow so miserably bée plucked a sundre and scatred abroad It pleased God it should be so who is the eternal wisdom doth no vniust thing And that which pleased God pleased also the holly Church which nether murmoured neither disputed agaynste the lord but receaued persecution willingly and by the grace of God endured it paciently knowyng and beléeuing that God who was omnipotent and mercifull would so moderate the persecution that it should tende to the commoditie of the Church as it also came to pas In the same minde it béehoueth all the faythfull to bée in all maner persecutions and patiently to submit themselues to the pleasure of God. Mutchlesse héerby may the reasoning of somme men take place who gather out of persecutions that if the doctrine were true and faith right God would ayde them and not deliuer thē ouer into their power y are altogether out of y way concernyng doctrine and béeléefe For in the persecution of the primitiue church these men as apperteinyng to y body had the victorie whose faith was false and they y were soundly persuaded suffred persecution were driuen away slain which slaughter calamity notwithstāding dyd nothing in damage the true faith And in our age also the case standeth none otherwise neyther for the persecutions which the Churche induereth the faith and doctryne therof is lesse to be regarded or worse therfore to be iudged The true faith and doctrine d●pend vpon no victory but onely vpon God and his worde Of the fourth Tragical Acte or persecution in which Saincte Iames the Apostle was slayne and Peter cast into Prison Chapter iiii ABout the yeare of Christe 45. Herode surnamed Agrippa sunne to Herode the great brother to Antipas moued the fourth persecution against the Churche wherof Luke speaketh in the Actes the. 12. Chapter There he declareth how Herod had decréed to molest certen of the Churche that he had alredy slaine with the sword Iames the brother of Iohn the Euangelist who also was one of the three whome the lord vsed most familiatly and to whom hee opened his secretes and not content with this cruell déed procéeded farther and call Peter into prison to the intent to put him also to death And because these twaine were the cheefest amonge the Apostles the whole Church was strooken in great sorowe and heauines for this persecution and specially Iohn who was mutch greeued for his brothers death The Church feared also least they should lease their faithfull pastor Peter as they had doone Iames wherfore Luke writeth that dayly they powred foorth prayers vnto God for Peter which prayers were not without effect For the Angell of the lorde came into the prison to Peter and deliuered him out of y souldiours hold losed his theines bandes opened the iron gate and set him at libertie in the open streete from whence by ● and by hee departed out of Ierusalem This great affliction the Church indured pacientlye neither murmured against Christ expostulatyng with hym why he gaue vnto Herod that wicked verlet sutch power against his dearly-beloued ones why he suffred his whole Church and specially Iohn his best beloued of all the Disciples to be touched with such heauenesse why he deliuered not Iames as he dyd Peter they knew that God dyd nothing rashly nor without cause but euery thīg wel rightly Wherfore the faithfull in persecutions must likewise be semblably persuaded For if euer men had nede to make their complaynt to God then had they néede neuerthelesse there were heard no complaynts no murmurings but earneste and humble praiers Wherfore in aduersitie let the faithful flie vnto God in praier requiring his grace y hée would gouerne al thing to y glory of his name and vnto our saluation and whatsoeuer he doth that wée submit our selues willingly to his holy will and pleasure Moreouer no man in the Primitiue Church called the doctrine of y Apostles into question because Iames was slaine with the sword and Peter cast into prison For none of them said thus if the apostles doctrine were true iust God would not haue suffered them to haue bin oppressed of y kings which erred in the faith leadyng also a filthy and wicked lyfe Therefore at this day lykewise the doctrine of the Gospell is not to be doubted of for that the teachers and followers therof are by the Lorde delyuered ouer into the enemies hands of the Gospell and miserably and cruelly by them intreated for the truth notwithstandyng is euerlasting inuincible Paul in the same cause writeth that he was afflicted for the gospel euen vnto hands but y word of god was not boūd The cause that stirred Herod to persecute the church was his owne peruerse minde which lothed christ his word Moreouer the Iewes gréedely thirsted the Apostles bloud wherfore Herod to currie fauour with them shed y bloud of the Apostles This Luke witnesseth in these words And when he saw this namely when he had slain Iames with y swoord to be acceptable to the Iewes hee proceeded also to apprehende Peter meaning after Easter to bringe him forth to the people Like as in our age many princes do persecute the faithfull for none other cause but that with their cruel butcherous Tragedies they might gratefie those Fathers

Congregations vnto Christe The same is verye dillygentlye and copiously described in the Actes of the Apostles The Apostles preached then openlye the Gospell of Christe in Ierusalem only in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ which was crucified and raised from the dead in whom if they béeléeued was remission of sinnes life euerlasting that al men therfore ought to béeléeue in him bée baptized and ioyne in fellowship of the church repent and liue a godly lyfe looke for saluation in none other thinge for that there is none other name vnder heuen giuen to men wherein they may be saued but the name of Iesus Christe These Sermons the Scribes and Seniours at Ierusalem coulde not abyde wherfore thei laide hand vpon the Apostles and shut them vp in Prison and brought them before the counsel where quarreyling and chidinge with them they forbid them to preach this Gospell of Iesus christ But the Apostles frankly professing that in this behalfe by no meanes they might obey them but that God must rather be obeyed then men were neuertheles much and gréeuously thretned by the Magistrats elders Vpon occasion hereof the Church being strock with great heauines prayed hartely vnto God for cōtinuance in the Gospell And when as the Apostles went forward constantly in teachyng and Christe effectually woorkinge in them confirmed the trueth of their doctrine with great miracles that a great numbre of men followed them so that the Churche was daily increased by thousandes then the magistrates officers setting vppon them a freshe cast the Apostles againe into prison intending to put them to death But by the intercession and meanes of Gamaliel the lawyer that was Pauls master they were delyuered but notwithstanding whipped and sharply forbidden that they should not preach the Gospel of Iesus Christ Who departing out of the counsell and Court praysed God that they were founde worthy to suffer reproch for his name Shortly after blessed Steeuen burning in the spirite of Christe and with great zeale disputing in the synagogs against the skilfull in the lawe and stoutly defendyng the doctrine of Christe was cast into prison and brought to arainement and falsly accused Who although he clered hymselfe with sufficient wise and graue reply yet it nothyng avayled him for hee was condemned to die and stoned to death There followed not long after a very vehement and sharp persecution of the christian Church described by Luke in the Acts of y Apostles by these words There ●rose about that time a greate persecution against the Church which was at Ierusalem and they were al dispearsed through the Regions of Iudeae and Samaria sauinge the Apostles For Saul wasted the Churche entring into euery mans house haling forth Men and women deliuered them to prison Yea Paul himselfe concerning this his persecution against the church spake thus in presence of King Agrippa truli I was determined with my self to do many things against the name of Iesus of Nazareth VVherof partly I dyd somwhat at Ierusalem and many of the Saints I committed too Prison hauing receaued auctoritie of the cheef prists on whom also I gaue iudgment when they were executed I punished thē also in the Sinagogs compelling them to blasphem that is to denye the Christian faith whiche is a great blasphemie and raging against them aboue al measure I persecuted them vnto strange Cities Now as touching the cause that mooued Paule the Preistes and people of the Iewes to persecute the Church was almost none other but a sinister vnseasonable zeale affection which they bare for the lawe of Moyses and the ceremonies which being lead with errour they ment to retaine and preserue and could not therfore beléeue in christ nor his Gospel For thei supposed that thei should be iustified saued by righteousnes of the law Contrariwise the gospel teacheth vs y wee shal not be saued by works of y law but by faith in Christ At this stone y Iewes haue stumbled fallen perished as S. Paul witnesseth in these words I protest for them that they haue the zeale of god but not according to knowledge For beyng ignorant of the righteousnes before god and studeinge to establish their owne righteousnes they were not subiect vnto the righteousnes which is allowed of god For Christe is th' end of the law vnto the iustification of al that beleue Likewise in another place Israell whiche ensued the Lawe of righteousnesse attayned not to the lawe of righteousnes that is to say was not iustified because they sought it no● by faith but by workes of the lawe For they haue stumbled at the stumbling stone as it is written Beholde I lay a stumblyngstone and a rock to hurt and make men fall and who so beleueth in him shal not be ashamed In this our age likewise and for the same very cause they aboue all other haue most vehemētly and sharply persecuted the christian church y haue bin better men then the residew and lesse giuen to carnal affection Thei hate the Gospell and persecute the professours therof bicause they confesse ernestly defende that wée be iustified and saued by faith only in Christ and not by any woorkes Supposing y by this doctrine good woorkes are taken away and nothing regarded y men are made carelesse and stirred vp vnto wickednesse which is not to bée suffred in y churche But there is a far other vnderstanding in y question of good woorkes then thei either thinke or vtter nether are they cōtemned and naught set by although the glory of Iustification which apperteyneth vnto Christe only bée not ascribed vnto thē For vnto faith is iustification ascribed bicause the same dependeth on Christ only y Christe only may haue al y glory he alonly be our saluation and righteousnes as wée haue in another place declared more at large But beefore wee proceede anie farther let euerie man I béeseche yée weigh with himself how great and gréeuous this persecution was against the firste Church of Christe and how that they which were not slayn notwithstandinge receaued great sorowe through the death punishment and torments of their brethren that which Luke also hath not passed ouer with silence wrytinge after this maner The holly men caried foorth Steuen and made great sorrowe ouer him What and how great sorowe greife and miserie did they féele who although they were not slayne yet were they spoyled of all their gooddes driuen into banishment and brought to extreame pouertie and beggerie Heerewithall also let euerie man consider what Church it was that suffred so gréeuous persecution forsooth euen the most holly and moste perfecte Church of al. For of this Church Luke witnesseth writinge They were all filled with the holly ghoste And of al the multitude y beleued ther was one hart and one soule and no man called anie thinge that hee had his owne but all thinges were common amonge them nether was

vngodlye séeke to rule There is also very great difference béetwéene the auntient Churche of Rome and the firste Bisshoppes thereof and the Churche of Rome Pope Cardinalles and byshops which be now at this day The antient Byshopes of the Church of Rome whiche lyued and sate there from the yere of Christ 70. vnto y yere 314. and during the time of Constantine the great were in number 32. who wer all faithfull in their callyng profitynge the Churche by teachinge and otheir meanes and for christe and his Gospels sake were martyred and slayne They medled not at all with the ciuill gouerment there was no Court of Rome no senat of scarlet Cardinalles no guarde for the body no other superfluities which now adayes are frequented by Popes Histories of credit do confirme this same such as were not writen in flatterie of the Popes Also the name of Pope at that time was not proper onely to the Bysshoppe of Rome but other Bishoppes also abroade in other Prouinces were called by the same name For Aurelius and Ciprian Byshops of Carthage Ambrose Byshop of Millaine and other Byshops in other places were also called Popes And lykewise Saincte Ierome termeth S. Augustine whiche was Bysshop of Hippo in certen Epistles by the name of Pope For this woorde Papa Pope in the Syracusian tounge signifieth as mutch as this word Pater a Father as Suidas testifieth For it behooueth the Ministers of the church to be faithfull fathers of the people as Sainct Paule writeth Moreouer amonge all the Byshops of Rome from Constantinus the great and Pope Syluester vnto Gregorye the firste which were in number xxxvi ther was not one within compasse of 280. yéeres that vsed y pompe pride maiestie and power which the Popes vse accustomably now now a daies Their aucthoritie was great amonge other Churches and Byshops because for the most parte they were learned and skilfull men neither infected with heresies as some other Byshops in other Churches were but principally because thei were Ministers of the same Churche whiche the Apostles planted at the béeginninge which was therfore called the Apostolick Churche and the Apostolick seate and Sainct Peters Chaer. Howbeit the title and name of the Apostolick seat was not giuen only to the Romane Church but vnto other Churches also namely Ierusalem and Antioche And this woord seate signifieth not a iudgment seat or a princes throne but an ecclesiasticall preachers pulpit So that our forefathers in the ould time termed the aboue named churches Apostolike seates of the Apostolicke doctrine bycause the Apostles taught in those places and from those Apostolick Churches the Apostolick doctrine stretched foorth vnto other Churches aswell farre as nere Wherfore those places in which is not the Apostolick doctrine can not glory of the Apostolick seat although indéed it were ther many hundred yéeres béefore For there is also a seate of the Diuell as Saynt Iohn declareth in the 2. Chapter of the Reuelation But in the time of Pope Gregory the first whiche was within 300. yéeres after the birth of Christe the Church of Rome was so farre from the dominion which now it obtaineth that Gregorye very vehemently with stood Iohn which was bisshop of Constantinople who ambitiously sought to haue cheif place and superioritie in the Church would also bée called vniuersal bysshop Which title notwithstandinge and greater to the bysshops of Rome do vse at this day but Gregorie said that this was a Deuilish pride and the malice of Antichriste Hée that lust let him reade the fourth sixte books of Saint Gregories Epistles touchinge this matter Howbeit not longe after the death of Gregory Bonifacius the 3. vsurped that title which was graunted vnto him by Phocas the emperour a naughtie and wicked man For Otho bysshop of Frisingen a writer of Cronacles in the v. booke and eight Chapter reporteth how Pope Bonifacius the 3. had obtained of Phocas the Emperour that by his aucthoritie power and commaundement the Churche of Rome might bée cauled and also bée indéede the head of all other Churches Beda also writeth the same And Vrspurgensis saith that Rome ought to bée mother of all other Churches Nauclerus writeth that al other Churches in the worlde ought to obey the Churche of Rome and the Bishop therof Wherby it may bée easely perceaued how that this decrée of Phocas the Emperour whom all Hystoricians do verie mutch reprooue was no decree or institution of the Apostles made by Peter or Paule The Sea of Rome béeyng exalted after this maner the bishops which consequently ensued began more more to busie and medle themselues with ciuile matters neither sought they only for power and dominion but deuised how they might plucke their necks from the emperours iurisoiction and extol themselues aboue them how they might challenge bryng in subiection vnder them their prouinces peoples and maiestie But in y meane season they quight forgot their submission and duty departing far wide from thence became altogether vnlike vnto y first bishops of Rome At length the matter proceeded so farre that they durst boldly withstande y emperours and rise agaynst them for euen so Gregory the .ij. and Gregory the .iij. Popes of Romes opposed themselues against Leo the .iij. and Constantine the .v. emperours For these calling certen coūsels vnto which there assembled a great numbre of learned men and bishops of Asia Grecia and other regions they argued the controuersie of Images namely whether it were lawfull to haue and to woorship the Images of Christe and the holly saincts in the Churches of the Christians Whereas at that time it was concluded and confirmed out of the holy scriptures and doctrine of the auncient fathers that Images ought not to be worshipped nor to be suffred in churches but to bée taken away whersoeuer they were founde But after that th' emperors had giuen foorth cōmaundment to the Popes and vnto other vnder the Roman Empire that all of them accordyng to the woord of God and the meaning therof discussed in this present coūseil should take downe th'images out of their Churches sutch was the presumption of the Popes that béeyng called to y counsel they neither appered and afterwarde by their owne aucthoritie contrary to the cōmandement of the Emperours they called peculyer Counsels of Italian Byshops wherein they decréede y Images ought bée to retained in churches and more worshipped then euer they had bin before Nether presumed they onely thus farre but withdrue the Emperours subiectes from due obedience towards hym excommuncaityng the Emperours themselues withoute cause raising morouer tumults great feditions wherein the Emperours lieutenantes and debites were slayne as namely Paulus at Rauenna and Mauritius with Adriane his sunne in Campania And by this meanes all dutifull seruice and obedience was denied to the Emperours they were driuen from the gouerment of Italye But by what right the Popes brought these thinges to passe by

all these things patiently and ouercame them and continued alwaies constant vnder y crosse The cause why the Iewes were enemies to Paul to y church surely was none other then y wherwith being before mooued they persecuted Christ y apostles as we haue declared before Moreouer hystories beare recorde that the twelue Apostles in all their life time and durynge the tearme of their administration in the gospel sustayned gréeuous afflictions and were all of them for Christe and his woords sake persecuted and put to death Although all writers doo not agrée of their kinds of death yet they al cōstanly affirme y thei were miserably slain Peter and his brother Andrew were both crucified Iames the elder as wée haue shewen before was béeheaded by Herod surnamed Agrippa Whose brother Iohn the Euangelist the béeloued disciple of Christ only of them al is reported to haue died a naturall death Notwithstandyng hée was apprehended and brought bounde out of Asia to Rome and conuented béefore Domitiā th'emperour and there as Tertullian writeth plunged ouer head and eares in hot boylinge oyle But after that the lorde graciously prouiding for him this cruell déede nothing indamaged his life hée was banished into y Isle Pathmos Phillip was nayled to a crosse there hangynge was stoned to death Barthelmew thei say was by his enemies most horribly flayne and afterward béeheaded Othersome say hée was burnt The enemies of Christe thrust Thomas through with a sworde and so as it is reported they dealt with Mathew Iames the younger the pastor doctor of the church of Ierusalem was throwne downe headlonge from an high place and afterwarde slayne beinge buffeted with stones vntill hée died Likewise both Apostles Simon and Iudas Thaddaeus ended their liues beinge by the heathen slain in a certen temple of Idols Some also say that Mathias was crucified others say hée was stoned and béeheaded Al these bare witnes of Christe not with their mouth and doctrine only but with ther blood also and for the trueth of the gospell which they preached were contented to die with wel willing and moste valient courage Now for as mutch as all the Apostles were slayn by the enimies of God who obtayned the souerainitye ouer them as apperteyninge to the bodye shall wée therfore say that superstitions of Gods enemies were right and the Apostles religion and doctrine false and erroneous who shall accuse God bycause hée deliuered not his seruantes from a reprochfull death but that hée gaue to the worst men in the whole worlde sutch power agaynst his holly Apostles Who although they were ministers of the trueth and innocent men yet were they put to death for the greatest enemies of God as malifactours and wicked persons for sutche were they accused to bée and therefore at this our age in the lyke cause wee must iudge so of their beléefe doctrine who ar shamefully executed for christs sake as indéede the trueth standeth in the sight of Christe ¶ Of the. 6. Tragicall Acte or persecutiō which was vnder Nero and of the seuenth which was vnder Domitian and of the eight vnder Vlpius Traian Emperours Chapter VI. PAulus Orosius an olde historician who liued in the time of Austine and wrote vnto hym seuene bookes of Storyes beginneth the recitall of the persecutyon of the Christian Churche from the persecution whiche Nero had moued which hée accounteth the first whose order the later Historicians also insued And we lykewise in describing the Tragedies persecutions committed against the Church wyll follow the same order as consequently they follow one another But since it is manifest y the fiue aboue recited persecutiōs were before these as the scriptures do shew that which Orosius maketh the firste we make the sixt although the matter be of no great importāce in this respect Orosius writeth that Nero firste that is to say among the Roman Emperours gaue forth commaundement that at Rome and in al other prouinces belonging to the Roman Empire the Christians shoulde bee molested and slayne And y this was his determination to roote oute the Christian faith all Christians wheresoeuer they were The causes that moued Nero to persecute y Christians are not so dilygentlye set downe by christian historicians as they are by prophane writers Suetonius Tranquillus in the lyfe of Nero and Cornelius Tacitus in the. 15. booke of the lyues of the Emperours Nero y emperour was y sinke of al beastly sinfulnesse fulnesse chiefly of lechery and vnspeakable incest defilyng himselfe against al course of nature so y in all Histories of you shal not finde his match This horrible wickednesse he openly committed at Rome without al shame in sight of y Senate and people But there was no man that durste speake against hym mutch lesse to reproue him or assay to punish hym but euery man winked at hym the most filthy beast in the meane time doyng what he list Wherfore God being offended with the citie of Rome punished it with fire as he did Sodome Gomorrha euen by Nero himself when as for his Sodomitical beastlinesse hée deserued to be burned himself And séeing Rome winked at his naughtinesse and did not y which it ought to haue done the horryble Sodomite Nero caused the citie to be set on fire For being certen places in the cittie wherewith Nero mislyked and the streates and passadges there verye narrow he caused the houses to be sette on fire that after they were brent they might be builded againe more faire and sumptious He himselfe beheld the fire out of Mecoenas tower saying that he much desired to se the burning of Troy which he beheld now som what resembled by that burning of the citie singing therwhiles the destruction of Troy and delighting himselfe with beholdyng the great fire Suetonius reporteth that from that time that Rome was firste built it neuer sustayned so much hurte by fire for it continued alwayes burnning the space of six dayes and so manye nights The same is also diligentlye described by Tacitus But when the fire through the wrath of God had brent farther then Nero had thought it shoulde and indamaged the Citie with an vnrepayrable losse and hinderaunce the citizens which had sustained so great harme were very much moued and ●ffended Wherefore the Emperour Nero to the intent that hee might put ouer from himself the 〈◊〉 of the déede raised a rumour among the commons that this whole mischeif was long of the Christians that they were aduersaries to the Gods and Religon of the Romans and wicked burners of cities and townes who also in that sort had defaced the citie And that this report might séeme to carie some trueth and auctoritie hée cast manie Christians into prison and examined them by tortures and tormentes that they should confesse how the citie was set on fire by them And in dede there were some fownd who not beinge able to abide tormentes