Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	church_n	succession_n	2,569	5	10.4652	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67580	Some queries to the Protestants concerning the English Reformation, by J.W. Gent. Published with allowance; Considerations which obliged Peter Manby Dean of Derry to embrace the Catholique religion. Selections.	Manby, Peter, d. 1697.; Ward, Thomas, 1652-1708.	1687 (1687)	Wing W836A; ESTC R219537	3,936	11

SOME QUERIES TO THE PROTESTANTS Concerning the English Reformation By J. W. Gent. ✚ Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Nathaniel Thompson at the Entrance into the Old Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross 1687. Some Queries to the PROTESTANTS concerning the English REFORMATION THe Church of England is either the whole Catholick Church or a Member thereof If a Member only name me that Church or Congregation under the Sun whose Sacraments and Liturgy she embraces unless she have cut her self off from the rest of the Body Does she allow the Sacraments of Lutherans or Calvinists From whence was Cranmer that first Patriarch or Reformer of the Church of England sent Who gave him Authority to Preach his Reformed Gospel Was it just or honest for him to rise up against the Church of Rome by virtue of a Commission from her received And if so I pray inform me whether a Bishop or Minister fallen from the Church of England may not also take upon him to Preach against the Church of England by pretence of the Orders received from her Hands Whether want of Mission be not an errour in the Foundation of any Church It being Theft and Robbery as our Saviour hath taught us not to enter by the dore into the Sheep-fold Whether Cranmer enter'd by the Parliament-dore or by the Gate of the Scriptures But this latter is the old Song of Hereticks and Sectaries perpetually boasting of Scripture I demand therefore does not the Bible admit of various Interpretations whence of necessity some Judge is to be assign'd to determine which is the true Interpretation unless your inclinations be to wrangle to all Eternity To these Quaeries I have often times-desired an Answer but never yet met with any If you pretend as many do that Cranmer and his Associates derived their Holy Orders from Christ and his Apostles by the hands of Roman Catholick Bishops It follows inevitably that Roman Catholick Bishops did also receive their Orders from Christ and his Apostles and consequently are true Bishops and therefore to be heard By this Answer the Protestants seem to me to destroy their own Cause But you will say perhaps that Roman Catholick Bishops did receive their Orders not their Doctrine from Christ and his Apostles Very good I would fain know then by whose Authority the first Reformers rose up against the Doctrine of the Church of Rome Untie this knot or confess that Cranmer Luther Calvin Socinus c. made themselves Judges Witnesses and Accusers But the more common Answer is that every National Church may Reform it self Be it so Then it follows Scotland may Reform it self to Calvinism Saxony to Lutheranism c. Moreover 't is false that the change of Religion was made here in England by Vote of the National Church or Clergy of England No no but by the giddiness of a Few during the Minority of Edward VI. being then a Child of Ten years old Read the Annals of those times even Fox himself where 't is evident that almost all the English Bishops Cranmer and two or three more excepted were utterly against the pretended Reformation Yet let us suppose but not grant Religion to have been reform'd here by the Major part of the English Clergy I understand not how it may be Lawful for the Church of England being in actual Communion with the Catholick Church to separate it self from the rest of the Body If you say this was not done by fault of the English Church but of the Church of Rome obtruding on the World her Errours and Corruptions I answer in short that all Hereticks themselves being Judges will escape Condemnation And further let the Reader take notice that all Presbyterians are wont to urge this very instance in their own defence against the Church of England to wit that they have left only the Errours and Corruptions of the English Church Whether the true Service of God had been corrupted throughout the whole World before Cranmers rise If not tell me in what Provinces of the Earth did it exist Whether among the Waldenses But I am ignorant from whence Peter Waldo the Merchant of Lyons received his Mission Nor do I know whether his Sacraments are approv'd by the Church of England Whether at this day there be no Pure and Apostolical Service of God in the World except that establish'd by Law in England and Ireland Whether it be Lawful for the People of England to invent a Church to themselves divided from all the rest of the Christian World By what Authority do they censure the Sacraments and Rites of the Roman Church Whether Cranmer was the first Arch-Bishop of the Church of England The reason of my doubt is because the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury for nine preceding Ages were all Roman Catholicks If he was the first he wanted Episcopal Succession because being the first of his Sect he succeeded to none Then how could he be a Lawful Pastor who had neither Succession Mission nor Miracles to recommend his New Doctrine I say New and strange at that time and for many Ages before Whether that be a true Church that wants Lawful Pastors And whether Pastors not Lawful and True can be said to have true Sacraments If not then is it not better to Communicate under One Kind with Catholicks than under No Kind with Reformers Whether the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England be Articles of Faith yea or no If not then no body is bound to believe them under pain of Damnation If they be then hath the Church of England invented new Articles of Faith besides those XII instituted by Christ his Apostles Whether the Reformed Religion may not be divided and sub-divided into endless Reformations Whether in the matter of the Eucharist the Argument drawn from our Senses be not fallible The reason of this question is because the Serpent deceiv'd our first Parents by perswading them to believe their own Eyes rather than the Word of God. As that they should eat of the Tree of Knowledge because it was fair to the Eye Now if Mankind were so deceiv'd by their Sight pray whence should their other Senses deserve more credit Whether the Church of England be not changeable according to the various inclinations of English Parliaments Whether the Spirit of Calvin denying and that of Luther affirming a Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament be the same Spirit If not then both cannot be of God. Was not John Calvin a most impudent Creature in assuming to himself the Office of Reforming the World being yet but a young Man of 25 or 26 years of age and that without all pretence of Miracles a thing which Christ himself undertook not under 30 years of age Whether from the Womb of the Reformation have not issued all those Slaughters Rapines Tumults Plundering of Churches Schisms and Civil Wars which broke out in the year 1641 Whether Africa produces more variety of Monsters than Britain does Fanaticks where every Man may Read and Interpret