Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	act_n	great_a	parliament_n	3,586	5	6.2777	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61864	Presbyteries triall, or, The occasion and motives of conversion to the Catholique faith of a person of quality in Scotland ; to which is svbioyned, A little tovch-stone of the Presbyterian covenant	W. S. (William Stuart), d. 1677.; W. S. (William Stuart), d. 1677. A little tovch-stone of the Scottish Covenant.	1657 (1657)	Wing S6028; ESTC R26948	309,680	599

pretend Vniversality when you say that your faith is beleeved received and defended by many Notable Kirks and Realmes but chiefly by the Kirk of Scotland Next you lay claime to a certain kind of Antiquity when you say that it hath been of a long time openly professed Such is the evidence of Truth that Enemies to it are sometimes enforced to make vse or rather a shew of it But to speak first of the vniversality of your faith where are all these many notable Realmes and Kirks which you affirm do professe your religion In Europe no such Kingdomes can be found For Swedland Denmark are known to be Lutherians who have neither Vnity of faith with you nor Communion in Sacraments and abhorre the very name of Calvin of all Sacramentaries The Realme late Church of England maintaind the Hierarchy of the Church abhorring very much the Anarchy of your Presbytery and now since England became a Commonwealth it hates nothing more then the Soule-Tyranny as it is commonly called there of your Presbytery The other famous Kingdomes of Europe are either totally or for the much greater part Roman Catholiques So that the many Notable Realmes of your religion are as yet invisible vnlesse you would count all those to be of your religion who are not Papists or who go vnder the general name of Protestants But that cannot be done for the Vniversality of a Church requires Vnity in faith Communion in Sacraments which you evidently want with a great part of Protestant Churches And therefore knowing that you want this Vnity you wisely pretend that this faith which you so much praise is chiefly professed by the Kirk of Scotland For every one of you pretends to be chief and will not yeeld to another Then yow come as little speed of your Antiquitie For all the long time that your faith was profest from the beginning of your Reformation to the first making of the Covenant is but about 20. years and as yet to this day it has not past the bounds of one Age. If you had the Vniversality Antiquity of the Catholique Church how would you glory when you make such a stirre with your fewnesse and Novelty For your one Kingdome and your one hundred years in which your religion has been professed we can show you the same Kingdome professing the Catholique religion above 14. hundred years and all the famous Christian Kingdomes and Countries of the world making the same profession even to the first time of their Conversion from Infidelity to Christianity And for your one King mentioned in your Covenant which he took in his younger years disproveing it when he became more ripe as appears in the Conference at Hampton-Court we can show you 80. Kings of the same Nation diverse of which are glorious Saints in heaven who lived and dyed in the Catholique Profession To whom we may add all the famous Christian Kings Emperours that have been in the world But albeit you were more spread then you are you would find no great advantage by it S. Augustin compareing you with good reason to smoake Aug. serm 2. in Psal 36. which doth vanish so much the sooner by how much it is greater more dilated abroad This we have seen verifyed in our time For the late Church of England intending to dilate her self in Scotland did shortly thereafter vanish like smoake in England Again the Scottish Presbytery indeavouring with great zeal to propagate it self in England lost soone much of its fyrie force in Scotland Secondly Antiquity of your religion would tend no lesse to your ruine for as S. Hierom hath observed all heresies please only men for a time and when they grow old they weare out of request as may be known by the many alterations of religion that have happened in Scotland but especially in England since their publique fall from the Catholique religion Then for Acts of Parlament whereby you say your faith is confirmed they cannot be very many seing the religion is so late neither can they give great confirmation to a religion because they are very changeable We see one Protestant Parliament has ransacted the Kings Su●remacy which many Protestant Parliaments had enacted and that which was before declared Heresy if not Treason to deny is now iudged both great follie and Treason to affirme The true religion is warranted by a higher authority then by earthly Courts But the Protestant religions are made and vnmade by Protestant Parliaments The last point here proposed containes three vntruths linked together as where you say that you all willingly agree in all points All the Horologes of the world will sooner agree then your wills When coercive power is now taken out of your hands you see how many do willingly freely disagree from you Then you call all the points of your faith Gods vndoubted truth which they cannot be besides other reasons because many Protestants doubt of diverse of them yea they think them vndoubted falshoods and besides yourselves are often changeing them which shewes that many articles of your faith are doubtsome and your faith of them is nothing but meer opinion Lastly it is most false that all your faith is grounded only vpon the written word because you beleeve some things without the word of God as the changeing of the Sabboth into Sunday the baptizing of infants and which is more you beleeve some points against the expresse word of God as your article of Iustification by faith only to speak nothing of diverse others And moreover you lay down a false ground when you professe to beleeve nothing 2. Thes 2.15 but what is containd in the Scriptures whereas they expresly bid you Hold fast the Traditions Thus we have seen all your pretences as about the word Spirit of God the Vniversality Antiquity of your faith by which you would make it more commendable to be false groundlesse Now we shall see how bitterly you renounce accurse the Catholique faith SECTION IV. Of the Popes Supremacy where it is shewed that the Pope is not Anti-Christ nor an Vsurper as the Covenanters do calumniate AFTER the former Preface follow these words of the Covenant And therefore we abhorre and detest all contrary Religion Doctrin but chiefly all kind of Papistry in generall and particular heads even as they are now damned confuted by the word of God and Kirk of Scotland But in special we detest and refuse the Vsurped Authority of the Roman Anti Christ vpon the Scriptures of God vpon the kirk the Civil Magistrate and Consciences of men c. Here you ingenuously confesse your selves to have one quality which all heretiques have ever had to hate and detest most the Catholique religion And your practice sheweth this your Confession to be true For albeit any person become a Socinian Anabaptist or Atheist you take no great notice of him but if you heare of any that is become a Papist he is sure to

the third but could not obtayn it Lastly they maintaind diverse grosse errours which are condemned both by Catholiques Protestants Ibidem subdivis 4. As 1. that Churchmen by mortal sin lost all spiritual authority 2. That the Civil Magistrats by mortal sin fell also from their dignity 3. That Churchmen should possesse nothing in propertie 4. That it was lawfull to dissemble in religion and their practice was conform to their doctrin for they went to Masse confessed and communicated For which dissimulation the Protestants at the beginnining would not acknowlege them for their brethren These and other grosse errors they maintain'd as may be seen in the Protestants Apology where the Authors are at large cited But as these differences do shew the Waldenses not to be good Protestants so I will bring some few to prove that they were ill Presbyterians Gualte Chron. saeculo 12. c. de Vvalden er 2● 32. 3. error 38. ibid. 1. They admitted no other forme of prayer except our Lords prayer the Presbyterians admitt many others but not that 2. They allowed only three orders in the Church to witt of Deacons Priests Bishops The Presbyterians have abiured Episcopacy the whole hierarchie of the Church 3. The Waldenses affirmed that all oaths were vnlawfull The Presbyterians have tak n and enforced others to take many vnlawfull oaths in the Covenant 4. The Waldenses maintain'd 4. error 40. ibi that it was not lawfull to put any man to death hy the sentence of a Iudge and therefore they abolished all Iudicatories in the cause of blood The Covenanters have shed much blood vnder pretence of Iustice spareing none of their opposers who came in their reverence 5. error 31. ibid. 5. They consecrated ordinarly their Sacrament vpon that day only whereon our Saviour was betrayed and they kept it thus consecrated all the yeare long to be given to the sick The Presbyterians do not professe to consecrate at all they give their Sacrament very seldom to the whole and they have made an act never to give it to the sick I can find hardly any thing wherein the Waldenses agreed more with the Presbyterians then with other Protestants Error 37. except in this alone that they contemned the Apostles Creed which the Presbyterians have more then probably done by denying it to be Apostolical By all which it is evident that the Waldenses did not continue since the time of the Apostles and from the time they arose they were not Protestants much lesse Presbyterians and so are deficient in both the principles Fox Acts. pag. 41. Illyric in Catalog test p. 730. Therefore M Fox Illyricus and other Protestants have their recourse very groundlesly to the Waldenses to prove the continuall visibility of their Church by them And for this cause we must leave them passe to the Albigenses ALBIGENSES These men had their name from the towne of Albingia in France where the greatest part of them remained They began in the same age with the Waldenses and was a branch of their sect Osiand Cent. 13 l. 1. c. 4. Fulk de success Eccles pa. 332. as Osiander Fulk do confesse Their late riseing sheweth that they had not continued since the time of the Apostles and therefore could not be the true Church as is evident by the first principle and consequently albeit they had been Protestants the Protestant Church could not be shewed continually visible in them They are also deficient in the second principle because they did not beleeve any Protestant Confession For they held the same doctrin with the Waldenses Baron anno 1176. 1. Prateol Sander ap Gualter error 2. 2. error 28. ibid. 3. error 10. apud Gualt except some few things which they added of their own As 1. they maintain'd with the Manichees that there were two beginnings to witt God and the Devil 2. With the Saducees they denyed the resurrection of the body 3. With the Manichees Seleucians and other ancient heretiques they reiected baptism And maintain'd many other errors which are condemned both by Catholiques Protestants and they committed some abominable and prophane villainies in the Church of Tolouse Hence it is that albeit some Protestants do seek to perpetual their Church by them yet others do clearly reiect them Iewell saith plainly Iewel in defenfione Apol. p. 48. non sunt nostri they are not ours And Osiander reiects them more clearly Their doctrin saith he was absurd impious heretical they remained obstinatly in their errors and impiety whence men think that they have been possessed with Anabaptistical furie And yet notwithstanding these grosse errors which they maintain'd and their great differences from Protestants M. Fox reckons the Albigenses in the number of Protestant Martyrs and some other Protestants Spark in respons ad Ioan. de Albins pag. 58. Fulk p. 332. vt supra as M. Spark Fulk do very gtoundlesly pretend to shew the visibility of their Church by them But seing the Protestant Church cannot be continued neither in the Waldenses nor Albigenses in France we must passe next to the Wiclefists in England WICLEFISTS Fox Acts Monum p. 85. Iohn Wicleff an English man was a Roman Priest and a Curate in England He lived in the yeare 1371. as M. Fox testifieth and from him began the Church of the Wiclefists for there was none or that religion before himself All the world saith M. Fox was covered with thick darknesse when Wicleff like the morning flarre did shine out in the midst of a cloude Therefore the Church of the Wiclefists which began so long after the Apostles cannot be the perpetual Church which we are seeking 2. The Wiclefists were not Protestants because they did not beleeve any Protestant Confession of faith yea they did not beleeve the principal point of the Protestant faith to witt Iustification by faith only For Melanchton saith of Wiclef Melanc epist ad Miconium Truly he neither vnderstood nor held the iustice of faith 3. He agreed with the Catholiques in many other points against Protestants as in the intercession of Saints Veneration of Images the rites ceremonies of Masse Extreme Vnction all the 7. Sacraments Protest Apol. Tract 2. c. sect 4. Concil Consta. cap. 8. as Breirly sheweth out of his own works Lastly he maintain'd diverse grosse errors condemned both by Catholiques Protestants as that all things fall out by an absolute and fatal necessity that God ought to obey the Devil as the Councel of Constance doth testifie Vpon which words his disciples made many violent intricate glosses which may be seen examined in D. Stratfords disputation of the Church D. S. Disp of the Church l. 1. c. 1. sect 3. He held also that Church men in mortal sin did not baptize nor conferre orders That Princes Magistrats fell from their dignity power by mortal sin That Churchmen ought not to enioy any temporal things but should