Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	antichristian_a	congregation_n	zion_n	16	3	10.7549	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03590	Of the lavves of ecclesiasticall politie eight bookes. By Richard Hooker.; Ecclesiastical polity. Books 1-4	Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Spenser, John, 1559-1614.	1604 (1604)	STC 13713; ESTC S120914	286,221	214

vnto their owne lawes the very publique seruice of God is fraught as touching matter with heapes of intollerable pollutions and as concerning forme borrowed from the shoppe of Antichrist hatefull both waies in the eyes of the most holy the kinde of their gouernment by Bishops and Archbishops Antichristian that discipline which Christ hath essentially tyed that is to say so vnited vnto his Church that wee cannot accompt it really to be his Church which hath not in it the same discipline that verie discipline no lesse there despised then in the highest throne of Antichrist all such partes of the word of God as doe any way concerne that Discipline no lesse vnsoundlie taught and interpreted by all authorized English Pastors then by Antichrists factors themselues at Baptisme crossing at the Supper of the Lord kneeling at both a number of other the most notorious badges of Antichristian recognisance vsuall Being moued with these and the like your effectuall discourses whereunto we gaue most attentiue eare till they entred euen into our soules and were as fire within our bosomes we thought we might hereof be bold to conclude that sith no such Antichristian synagogue may be accompted a true Church of Christ ye by accusing all congregations ordered according to the lawes of England as Antichristian did meane to condemne those congregations as not being any of them worthy the name of a true Christian Church Ye tell vs now it is not your meaning But what meant your often threatnings of them who professing thēselues the inhabitants of mount Sion were too loth to depart wholly as they should out of Babylon Whereat our hearts being fearefully troubled we durst not we durst not continue longer so neere her confines least her plagues might suddenly ouertake vs before we did cease to be partakers with her sinnes for so we could not choose but acknowledge with griefe that we were when they doing euill we by our presence in their assemblies seemed to like thereof or at least wise not so earnestly to dislike as became men heartily zealous of Gods glory For aduenturing to erect the discipline of Christ without the leaue of the Christian Magistrate happily ye may condemne vs as fooles in that we hazard thereby our estates and persons further then you which are that way more wise thinke necessary but of any offence or sinne therein committed against God with what conscience can you accuse vs when your owne positions are that the things we obserue should euery of them be dearer vnto vs then ten thousand liues that they are the peremptory commaundements of God that no mortall man can dispence with them and that the Magistrate grieuously sinneth in not constraining thereunto Will ye blame any man for doing that of his owne accord which all men should be compelled to do that are not willing of themselues When God commandeth shall we answer that we will obey if so be Caesar will graunt vs leaue Is discipline an Ecclesiasticall matter or a Ciuill If an Ecclesiasticall it must of necessitie belong to the duty of the Minister And the Minister ye say holdeth all his authority of doing whatsoeuer belongeth vnto the spirituall charge of the house of God euen immediatly from God himselfe without dependency vpon any Magistrate Whereupon it followeth as we suppose that the hearts of the people being willing to be vnder the Scepter of Christ the Minister of God into whose hands the Lord himselfe hath put that Scepter is without all excuse if thereby he guide them not Nor do we finde that hitherto greatly ye haue disliked those Churches abroad where the people with direction of their godly ministers haue euen against the will of the Magistrate brought in either the doctrine or discipline of Iesus Christ. For which cause we must now thinke the very same thing of you which our Sauiour did sometime vtter concerning false harted Scribes and Pharises They say and do not Thus the foolish Barrowist deriueth his schisme by way of conclusion as to him it seemeth directly and plainely out of your principles Him therefore we leaue to be satisfied by you from whom he hath sprung And if such by your owne acknowledgement be persons dangerous although as yet the alterations which they haue made are of small and tender groath the changes likely to insue throughout all states and vocations within this land in case your desire should take place must be thought vpon First concerning the supreme power of the highest they are no small prerogatiues which now thereunto belonging the forme of your discipline will constraine it to resigne as in the last booke of this treatise we haue shewed at large Againe it may iustly be feared whether our English Nobility when the matter came in tryall would contentedly suffer themselues to be alwayes at the call and to stand to the sentence of a number of meane persons assisted with the presence of their poore teacher a man as sometimes it hapneth though better able to speake yet little or no whit apter to iudge then the rest from whom be their dealings neuer so absurd vnlesse it be by way of cōplaint to a Synod no appeale may be made vnto any one of higher power in as much as the order of your discipline admitteth no standing inequalitie of Courts no spirituall iudge to haue any ordinary superiour on earth but as many supremacies as there are parishes seuerall Congregations Neither is it altogether without cause that so many do feare the ouerthrow of all learning as a threatned sequell of this your intended discipline For if the worlds preseruation depend vpon the multitude of the wise and of that sort the number hereafter be not likely to waxe ouer great when that where with the sonne of Syrach professeth himselfe at the heart grieued men of vnderstanding are already so little set by howe should their mindes whom the loue of so pretious a iewell filleth with secret iealousie euen in regard of the least things which may any way hinder the flourishing estate thereof choose but misdoubt least this discipline which alwayes you match with diuine doctrine as hir naturall and true sister be found vnto all kinds of knowledge a stepmother seeing that the greatest worldly hopes which are proposed vnto the chiefest kind of learning ye seeke vtterly to extirpate as weedes and haue grounded your platforme on such propositions as do after a sort vndermine those most renowmed habitations where through the goodnesse of almightie God all commendable arts and sciences are with exceeding great industrie hitherto and so may they euer continue studied proceeded in and profest To charge you as purposely bent to the ouerthrow of that wherein so many of you haue attained no small perfection were iniurious Only therfore I wish that your selues did well consider how opposite certaine your positions are vnto the state of Collegiate societies whereon the two Vniuersities consist Those degrees which their statutes bind them to take are