Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	ceremony_n	church_n	rite_n	3,560	5	9.9325	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01730	A plaine declaration that our Brownists be full Donatists by comparing them together from point to point out of the writings of Augustine. Also a replie to Master Greenwood touching read prayer, wherein his grosse ignorance is detected, which labouring to purge himselfe from former absurdities, doth plunge himselfe deeper into the mire. By George Gyffard minister of Gods word in Maldon.	Gifford, George, d. 1620.	1590 (1590)	STC 11862; ESTC S118453	101,969	166

and the doctrine of Free will were crept in also besides diuers other grosse errors which sundrie of the chiefe teachers held some in one poynt some in an other Touching Ceremonies not for order and comlynes but with signification the libertie was exceeding which men tooke and the corruption greeuous which was not espied but of few Tertullian for his time nameth these which he saith were receiued by tradition and had no scripture to warrant them first in baptisme hauing shewed what they professed and the thrée times dipping into the water hee addeth Inde suscepti lactis mellis concordiam pragustamus Exque ea die lauacro quotidiano per totam hebdomadam abstinemus That is Taken from thence hee meaneth from the water wee first taste the concord of milke and hony and from that day we abstaine from the dayly washing a whole weeke Die dominico ieiunium nefas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare Eadem immunitate a die paschae in Penticostem vsque gaudemus That is We account it an heynous matter to fast on the Lords day or to worship vpon the knees by the same freedome from Easter vnto Penticost we reioyce And by and by after hee saith Ad omnem progressum atque promotum ad omnem aditum exitū ad vestitū ad calciamentū ad lauacra ad mēsas ad lumina ad cubilia ad sedilia quacunque nos conuersatio exercet frontem crucis signaculo terimus That is At euerie setting forward and mouing at euerie comming to or going foorth at our appareling and putting on our shooes at washing at table at lighting the candle at bed at sitting whatsoeuer wee are busied about we weare our forehead with the signe of the Crosse These superstitious obseruations were crept into the Church and in the daies of Tertullian who liued not much more than two hundreth yeares after our Sauiour Christ receaued so generallie that hee saieth they were by tradition from the Apostles Augustine vnto Ianuarius complaineth that there was such a multitude of rites or ceremonies in the Church But what should I labour in this point If the Brownists will affirme that there be as great corruptions in the worship of the Church of England if we respect either doctrine or ceremonies as were in the Churches from which the Donatists did separate themselues they shall be conuinced of grosse ignorance And if they stand in it they shall shew themselues shameles let the reader in the meane time but looke vpon the Epistle of Master Beza before the new Testament and see what he affirmeth in this matter how corrupt the Churches were Then I conclude that the Donatists separating themselues from Churches more corrupt than the Churche of England in the worship of God as I dare stand to maintaine against them if they denie it may as well bee excused as the Brownists and so hetherto they bee euen bretheren with them or their naturall Children no difference to bee found at all And now touching the third and fourth pillars of Brownisme the Donatists cried out that the Churches had no true Ministers but that they were all false Prophets Iudasses persecutors of the iust generations of Traitors because as they saide they had their ordination from those that were such The Brownists with all their might lift vp their voices and call vs Baals Priests the marked seruants of Antichrist false Prophets seducers and such like because as they say we are ordeined by Antichristian Bishops which exercise a Discipline contrarie to the Discipline of Christ Here wee haue to consider of two things at once the Ministers and the Discipline let vs first see what the Donatists held against the Ministers This was the common voice among the Donatists O that matters might be disputed discussed and scanned But when by the commandement of the Emperour the conference should bee holden what miserable shiftes and delayes did they finde out And in the conference of the third day Chapt. 2. It is shewed that the Donatists did accuse them as Traitors and persecutors and that this saying had been vttered Indignum est vt in vnum conueniant filij Martyrum progenies traditorum It is an vnworthie thing that the sonnes of Martyres the generations of traitors should come together When Augustine had saide he was no traitor Cresconius the Donatist replieth Sed ille qui tradidit te creauit Fonte deducitur riuus caput membra sequuntur sano capite omne sanum est corpus si quid in hoc morbi vel vitij est omnia membra debilitat or iginem suam respicit quicquid in stirpe processit Non potest innocens esse qui sectam non sequitur innocentis But he that created thee plaied the Traitor the riuer or streame is deriued from the Fountaine and the members followe the head The head being sounde the whole bodie is sound and if there bee anie disease in it it weakeneth all the members It respecteth it owne originall whatsoeuer groweth out of the stock hee cannot bee innocent which followeth not the sect of the innocent These be the words of Cresconius the Donatist by which hee taketh vpon him to proue that Augustine and all the Pastors of the Churches had no true ordination were not true Ministers of Christ but the generations of traitors He vseth as we see thrée similitudes The first is to this effect as the riuer is deriued from the Fountaine and must néedes be such as it is so those that bée ordeined Ministers are like the streame deriued from the fountaine the ordeinors being trators Iudasses false prophets persecutors y e ordeined must néedes be such also The second is that the members doo followe the head He that ordeineth is the head the Ministers ordeined are the members If the head be infected the poyson of it goeth into the mēbers Thy ordeinor euen thy head was a traitor thou art then a traitor also The third similitude is from the stock and the branches that growe out of it such as the stock is such are the braunches that growe out of it But he that ordeined thée or created thée a Minister was a false Prophet therefore thou art a false prophet for hée is the stock out of which thou doost growe how canst thou but bee such as the roote out of which thou doost spring The Brownists handling this point to proue that we be no Ministers of Christ set foorth the matter thus your discent and pedegrée is in few degrées deriued from the Pope you being the Children of your Antichristian Bishops which are the creatures of the Pope who is the eldest sonne of Sathan and his vicar generall in earth whose image marke power and life you beare and together with him growe liue raigne stand and fall as the branches with the Trée This is the eloquence of the Brownists which differing in words containeth the same reasons that the Donatists did vse for in stead of the Fountaine and the streame

the head and the members they put the Fathers and the Children for the stock and the braunches they put the Trée and the boughes which is all one And from the roote as it were from the Fountaine and head they deriue the life the power and the Image c. Thus they agrée then that the one part saide those which ordeined ye were such as sacrificed to Idols and Traitors verie Iudasses you are their children and like them The other part saieth those that ordeined yee bée the creatures of Antichrist yée receiue the verie life and power of your Ministerie from them ye are their Children and so the Children of the Pope Now let vs sée the answer which Augustine maketh which is this In his omnibus verbis tuis creatorem meum caput meum non fecisti nisi traditorem quem quidem accusare tantùm non conuincere potuisti Ego autem nec eius innocentiam mihi creatricem vel fontem caputúe constituo Sed tu ad illud redis in quo Petilianus errauit cum cuiusque in sanctificatione baptismatis Christu● sit orig● caputque nascentis nos vis venire in maledictū de quo scriptum est maledictus omnis qui spem suam ponit in homine That is to say In all these thy wordes thou hast made my ordainer my head none other than a traitor whom thou couldest onely accuse but not conuince But I do not hold his innocencie to be that which hath ordained me a Minister or to be fountaine or head but thou doest returne to that in which Petilian erred when as Christ in the sanctification of baptisme is the originall and the head of euerie one that is borne againe and wilt haue vs come into the curse of which it is written Cursed is euerie one that putteth his trust in man Thus farre Augustine whose answere hath two parts The first is that the Donatists did accuse but could not prooue that the ordainers were such as in time of persecution had yeelded to sacrifice to Idols or deliuered the holie booke to the fire The other part is that whether he that ordained him were a godlie man or a wicked man the matter is all one touching his ordination and Ministrie The ordination not being mans the innocencie of man cannot be the ordainer it cannot bee the head or fountaine neither can it make his ordination the better Then likewise the wickednesse of the man that ordaineth cannot be the roote nor the fountain nor the head The men which ordaine are not the fathers of the Ministrie because it is not theirs which they deliuer but Christs That this is Augustines meaning it is cléere by that he telleth Cresconius he returned to that in which Petilian erred Petilian denying that it was baptisme that had béen ministred by an vngodlie man rendereth this reason that euerie thing must haue an originall and an head or else it is nothing Augustine repl●eth that Christ onely is the originall and the head of him that is baptized and that the baptisme being Christs and not theirs that did deliuer it the goodnes of the Minister made it not one iot the better nor the wickednes of the Minister any whit the worse Adding moreouer that such as take the baptisme ministred by a godlie man to bee better in it selfe than that which is ministred by a naughtie man fall into the curse of which it is written Cursed is euerie one that putteth his trust in man He that hangeth the matters which are Christs vpon men putteth his trust in men The same answere that hée hath made to those his Donatists of Aphrica doo wee make vnto our Donatists of England First they accuse in most bitter and hainous manner but shall neuer be able to prooue their accusation for there is no Ministrie in England ordained by the Pope or for the Pope The Ministrie of publishing the Gospell and deliuering the Sacraments is not the deuice of man but Christes ordinance and therefore we receiue it not as theirs that deliuer it neither doth their godlines or vngodlines make it better or worse vnto vs. The Ministrie was not vtterlie destroyed in the Poperie for there remained the Sacrament of baptisme howsoeuer the Catabaptists denie the same How much is the Ministrie of Christ to bee acknowledged when it is onely to that end for which he ordained it though the men that ordaine should be most vngodlie This thing will more fullie appeare when we come to handle the agréement of the Brownists with the Donatists in that ranke Donatisme affirming it to bee no Sacrament which is ministred by an open wicked man Thus much may suffice to shewe that in denying the ministrie to bee Christs they hold the same ground and arguments and receiue the selfe same answere And for their rayling termes as generations of traitors seducers false Prophets Iudasses persecutors and such like I néed not mention the comparison of our men with them seeing they doo in this as in one of the chiefe vaines of their eloquence apparantlie excell Their basest disciples can crie out Antichrists Baals Priests false Prophets seducers and what not But it will bée sayd that in the matter of discipline the Donatists and Brownists are vnlike I graunt the Donatists that euer I haue read did take no exception that way That is not alone in question but whether there were any fault so that exception might betaken And for this men are to consider that as corruption in doctrine and ceremonies did enter betimes into the Church and growe a pace so also the discipline or externall gouernment was of many neglected abused and corrupted Sundrie of the Pastors being proud and ambitious the steppes were made for Antichrist to climbe vp who challenged not onely an externall power ouer all other but also a Lordship ouer the conscience Thus much touching the first obiection The second difference obiected is That the Donatists did condemne all Churches in the world The Brownists condemne but the Churches of England Indéed the Brownists doo affirme that they be farre from condemning all churches and so here is an apparant difference and a great at the first sight if men doo not narrowlie way and consider all matters They knowe it is a great preiudice vnto them if it bée found that they condemne all Churches but wee may not looke vpon their words of deniall but vpon the consequence of their matters For he that shooteth an arrowe at one thing and together therewith striketh another cannot bee sayd not to haue striken it because he had no such intent So must wee consider whether the dart of condemnation which they haue shot at the Church of England doo not together with the same runne through the sides of all Churches I stand to prooue it doth and so that they are in this also full Donatists But if they did not yet they shall bee found thus farre in Donatisme as to condemne some Churches of Christ My first reason shall be from