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	council_n	pope_n	2,529	5	6.4206	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33180	To Catholiko Stillingfleeton, or, An account given to a Catholick friend, of Dr. Stillingfleets late book against the Roman Church together with a short postil upon his text, in three letters / by I. V. C.	J. V. C. (John Vincent Canes), d. 1672.	1672 (1672)	Wing C433; ESTC R21623	122,544	282

he does neither § 14. From hence the author proceeds to a new argument fit as he thinks to prove the Church of Romes fanaticisme which indeed so exalts her honour that it proves her the only powerful Judg that does suppress it He tells us then a long and punctual story of some disturbances and heresies that rose about three hundred Years ago in the Christian world who were the chief authors when and where they first appeared how far they spread what tumults they caused what Catholick Doctours opposed them and what Pope at last censured and silenced them And this was the heresy of the Fratricelli Begwini and such like others And he is so exact in his narration that he spends almost forty pages in it thereby to daz'e the Reader and lead him on so far that he may not reflect upon the impertinence of it For heresies will rise and the first uprise of them must needs be amongst some who lived thitherto in the Catholick Church And if they will not hear and be quiet as the rest are they will be censured in the end And this was all the business here But the Doctour twits at the Pope for that he delayed his censure so long still favouring the Fryars amongst whom there were some great sticklers in that madness Surely Sir it is a part not of prudence only but justice too in any judg to hear all parties speak and to defer an extreme sentence till he see where it is most due And sometimes the commotion is so disorderly wild or amb●guous that true prudence will doubt wh●ther punishment be to be infl●cted on this or th●t side or perhaps on either until a● least it appear so seasonable that it may do good But thus I say If the●e men ●ere named Almarious Parma Oliva Peter John Geraldus Sagarellus Dulcinus Hermanus and other Fratricelli were fanaticks or their opinions fanaticisme then did the Church justly and prudently so to silence them that they are now no more extant in the world If they were not fanaticks then all the Doctours narration is but a tale of Tom Thumb I can tell the Doctour of another fanaticisme far greater and of more dismal consequence than this which rose up in the Catholick Church but one hundred Years ago begun promoted and spread over half Europe by Martin Luther an Augustin Fryar John Calvin a Priest and as I think a Cannon too Swing in s who I am sure was both Carolstade an arch-deacon in Wittenburg Bucer a Dominican Fryar Lismanin a franciscan Richerius a Carmelite Alciat and David George from Transilvania Valentin Gentile from Italy Castalio from France Peter Martyr and Ochyn from Florence Alasco from Po●and B●za from Burgundy Servetus from Spain Melanchton from Germany as if the whole earth had conspired to cast forth her dead unto the infection and ruin of mankind These had been all Catholick hitherto and Catholick Priests too And what d●d they now hold forth and what did they pretend and teach a perfect fanaticisme here described by the Doctour and both the waies of it both a new enthusiastick way of Religion and a resisting of authority under pretence of it They would have now no more obedience to their Prelates which is the very essence of fanaticisme no obligation to the religious duties wherein they had hicherto been trained no respect to Church laws or rules of discipline fasts or other observances The best works were sins Restitution superfluous Monasteries and religious retirement superstitious Gods law impossible to be kept No oblation no altar no priesthood any more And such negatives innumerable This was their new religion the maddest that ever was broched upon earth and far short even of Pagan honesty And how did they go on Even with point of pen and force of arms defying and defaming all Superiority upon earth They razed and threw to the ground hundreds of fair Monasteries and Churches filled all Germany where the fanaticisme began with ruins perverted England Ireland Denmark Swethland and all the Islands here abouts and pillaged the whole Kingdoms This fanatick heresy was opposed by all the learned Catholicks in Christendom and censured not by the Pope only but by a general councel of Bishops gathered together round about to apply their helping hands and stop the ruin And yet has this one dangerous infection been yet too strong for all indeavour Other lesser fanaticismes have yielded to the incessant care and vigilance of Catholick Prelates But this of Prot●stants holds out as yet and so will still till the temptation be removed by the hand of heaven which turns all mens hearts when the Hour is fittest for it § 15. After this the Doctour gives us the story of St. Ignace Founder of the Society So contumeliously related that his conversion to a stricter life by reading the lives of former Saints his backwardness to human literature his patient sufferings and travels to and fro as his pious purposes led him his fasting and meditations the examinations made of his rigorous course of life and various oppositions his gathering Disciples and indeavour to have his rule confirmed by the Supreme Bishop are all made to sound conformably either to Don Quixots Romance or the esteemed madnesses of Quakers who are saith he at least Grand-children to the founder of the Jesuits Truly these Quakers either are or must it seems be thought an odd kind of people They are Benedictins Franciscans Dominicans Jesuits and all within the compass of one Chapter And yet they profess none of all this nor know nothing of it But here Sir you may perceive at least how easy it is to make a pious and serious matter to sound ridiculous or wild by the meer manner of relating it which is a great and necessary caution against the poison of slanderous tongues What M●ffeius Ribbadanira and Orlandius learned Jesuits write seriously of that holy man if not all to his honour yet no part of it to his disparagement this by prophane irony is travested into mockery Thus do Jewes tell the story of our Christianity and its ●oly founder unto their Ch●ldren in such a Stilling fleetian way that they are made to hate and scorn it all their life after But Jesuits have too much gravity and wisdom in them to be la●●ght out of countenance by a trifl●ng prevaricator Let St. Ignace be as great a fool as St. Francis or yet as great as t●is Author can speak him yet can he not deny but he has wise and grave and learned children whose books have helped him many a t●me to make up his Sermon When King Saul began to p●ophesy the people wondred at it and asked one another Is Saul also among the Prophets unto whom another replyed How came he there Quis est pater cjus who is his father giving the rest therby to understand that his prophesy was not genuin nor likely to be fixt and constant becaus he was not a Prophet of prophets nor had his

the way we may note that Charlemaign or Charles the great was a notable champion not for the faith only but for the temporals also of the Roman Bishop even to his death which I gave the Doctour notice of when I spoke of the Councel of Frankford and himself now here acknowledges it 2. The story of the quarrels between Henry fourth Emperour and Pope Gregory Hildebrand about an age afterward and the various troubles inferred upon the said Emperour therby 3. The story of P. Vrban and Paschall and others then sitting in the See apostolick and Emperour Rodulphus Lotharius Conradus and the great wars and feuds between them unto the great affliction and misery of mankind 4. The story of the Schismes that happened in the ninth age about the election of Popes wherein successively they deposed contradicted judged and censured one another unto the unexpressable scandall and grief of the whole world And all these above named histories are gathered out of Alphonsus Ciaconus Baronius Luitprandus Morinus Papirius Massonus Onuphrius Sigonius Nauclerus Sigebertus Otto Frisingensis Conradus Rubeus Valesius Sirmondus Sabellicus Blondus Nithardus Hincmar Guicciardin Platina all Catholick historians not one that I know excepted 5. The story of Friars and Monks exemption from Episcopal jurisdiction and the troubles caused thereby amongst the Clergy and the instability of Roman Prelates sometimes confirming and then again recalling those their priviledges This happened in the thirteenth age about four hundred years ago some Doctours defending the said Religious exemptions and priviledges as St. Bonaventure St. Thomas Jacobus Abbas Cluniacensis and some opposing them as Dr. Saint Amour and the University of Paris Armacanus Durandus Mimatensis Petrus de Vineis and Aegidius Romanus 6. The story of two or three Priests here in England about threescore years ago who haveing boarded together at Wisbich with some of the Society very peaceably for a time at last fell out and parted with much scandal and heats one against another 7. The story of Richard Smith Bishop of Calcedon opposed here in England about forty years ago by some religions 8. The story of a bitter contest between some regulars and their bishop in the Philippin Islands and again in Angelopolis in America about twenty years ago 9. The story of the many differences amongst the Schoolmen not to be ended either by Pope or Councels although one of the contradictories must needs be false These are his stories some of them dismal enough and yet all of them I think as true as I am certain they are impertinent And ever and anon the Doctour cries out where is their unity here where is now their infallibility so much talked of whereas indeed the stability of religion and Gods infallible protection of his Church never appeared in greater splendour then it did in those dismal dark times when such as should have been Pastors proved wild beasts rather and wolves to destroy the flock For even in those worst times did the Catholick Church most flourish in unity and Christian piety all over the world And through all these tempests and many more yet greater hath this ship of the Church passed on now almost seventeen hundred years and yet continues To keep it safe and whole not only from outward opposition of Infidels but even from the many inward domestick scandals strong enough to crack asunder the very sides of it and dissipate it into dust is a power and vertue truly divine which can proceed from nothing but Gods great favour and love and blessing upon it We had never heard so much of the power of our Lord Jesus nor known it so well if a tempest had not rose and indangered the ship And all that I think can be judiciously gathered from these many dismal stories and miserable scandals is only this that in all such distresses and ever we are still to trust in God and in the vertue of our Lord Jesus Christ who has promised to be with us even to the worlds consummation And if he be with us we shall be well be what will against us whether it rise within the Church or fall upon it from without The Catholick Church must tast all the trials and temptations which may render her conformable to her Lord and head both from friends and foes And it is enough that he watches over us who never sleeps and suffers no more to befall us then will redound to his own glory in the end But I wonder much how the Doctour amongst the many differences and broils here recorded could omit to relate the differences betwixt the Kings of France and Spain now daily sounding in our ears unto the sad and woful ruin of so many thousand people But he is subtle and thinks perhaps if he should speak of such publick things now in present action that every one would be able to tell him presently that the said discourse is nothing to the purpose for that the said Kings and their whole Kingdoms are all in a perfect unity of their Catholick faith for all that And therefore he judges it a wiser part to hunt farther from home as foxes do where ordinary Readers cannot so easily discern his impertinency If he do speak any thing near our own times it must be the wranglings of some obscure men unknown to us if he relate the differences of greater men they must be such as are far removed off four five nine hundred years ago and then he hopes that his Reader may not so easily discover his fraud For the same reason he omits also to speak of the great wars and differences between the hous of York and Lancaster here in England which brought with them as dismal effects as any here recorded by him as also the Wars of England with France unto the utter depopulation in a manner of that whole Kingdom And yet did their unity of faith stand all the while inyiolable And this truth becaus it is known to every Reader therefore will not the subtle Doctor make any mention of these things But I cannot so well tell why he should omit the story of the Arrian heresy which disturbed not one Kingdom only but all the whole Christian world Europe Asia and Africa so far as the very Sun in the Firmament looked upon it And those differences were indeed about a point of faith which nothing is here in all the differences related by the Doctor Secondly they brought with them unspeakable molestations and damages all the world over far further then these his related differences ever reached Thirdly they lasted four hundred Years whereas most of these his differences were little and light and personal or national and none of them so lasting as the troubles of Arrianism So peevish obstinate and self-will'd are men even against all rules of Christian piety and moderation when concupiscence and passion are once ingaged And yet was that Arrian dispute so quaint and subtile that the world hardly discerns where the difference lay which so much incensed all the Catholick Prelates in the world and set in such a deadly fewd so many great and holy men on both sides who had guided their Flocks before in all tranquillity and peace But what reason soever the Doctour had for his omission of this Arrian heresy which is more pertinent than any of all his stories put together yet might he not me-thinks have utterly forgot the famous and renowned story of Robin Hood who was a noble person and well beloved of his Countrey and yet out-lawed by his King who professed the same Catholick religion with him was forced to confine himself to woods and deserts in much hunger and distress and daily dangers of his life If he had bethought himself well he might have printed here the whole History of England and France Spain and Italy Germany Poland and Greece And it would have made him a fine long chapter Especially if he had inserted all the wranglings and law-suits that have happened amongst Christians in all the said Kingdoms from their first conversion for above a thousand years unto this last age when Protestancy first showed its head But in all that time there is not an Authour upon earth who mentions any wars any wranglings any division of Protestants For neither Cesar nor Pompey however mischievous made any troubles before they were born nor did any writer take notice of those turbulent warriours from the time of Picus first King of the Latines unto their daies which was little less than the same space of time that Protestants were in a deep silence and peace all over the whole Christian world fifteen hundred years I have no more now to say but dear Sir farewell and continue still to love and pray for Your friendly Postillator J. V. C. FINIS