Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	body_n	church_n	invisible_a	4,247	5	10.9779	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12489	A persvvasion to the English recusants, to reconcile themselues to the Church of England Written for the better satisfaction of those which be ignorant. By Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie.	Dove, John, 1560 or 61-1618.	1603 (1603)	STC 7085; ESTC S110110	29,134	40

which is the Bishop of Rome and that being seperated from the head we cannot be liuing members of that mysticall body My answere is The head of the Church is Christ 1. Cor 11. and we as members are conglutinate and ioyned vnto that head and to them which obiect that our Sauior Christ in his absence must haue his Deputie that the Deputy or Vicar generall of Christ is the Holy-Ghost which hath the gouernement of the Church Euen as Elias ascending vp let his mantle downe vpon Eliseus to be with him in his steade so our Sauiour departing 2. Reg. 2 Act. 2 Matth. 28. Act. 20. from vs sent downe the Holy-Ghost to possesse his roome and to abide with vs vntill the end of the world Take heede saieth the Apostle to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy-ghost hath made you ouer-seers so then the Holy-Ghost hath the gouernement of the Church But say they a visible body must haue a visible head proportionably to the body and therefore some one man must be ouer the Church I deny not but weake men desire a visible obiect still before their eies as the Israelites when Moses was out of their sight but a few dayes Exod. 32. would make a calfe to be their gouernour rather than they would want one to be visibly resident among them And therefore our Sauior because we should not in his absence committe the like idolatry did leaue the visible Sacrament of the Eucharist among vs saying This is my body But yet I do answer that a similitude must not as the Schoolemen say Currere quatuor pedibus agree in all things First therefore it is not simply necessarie that the visible bodie should still haue a visible head in sight as if it could not stand without such an head For God had his Church visible vpon the earth before the Papacie and before the Incarnation of Christ but Christ the head of the Church before his incarnation could not be a visible head So therefore as Christ in his Godhead alone before hee was borne was the head of his Church though inuisible likewise is he now in his Godhead and Manhoode vnited together head of the church visible although vpon the earth not to be seene Secondly the time hath beene when there was a long vacancie of the Popedome by reason of ciuill dissention yet the Church then stood without such an head Thirdly no sinfull man is able to discharge such an office as to be ouer-seer of the vniuersal church Fourthly there must be such an influence of necessitie from the head to the body as cannot possibly be from any man to the Church Fiftly the Pope neuer was reputed as head of the whole Church for the East part of the world that is the Greeke Church was euer so auerse from the Sea of Rome that it could neuer yet be brought either to obedience to the Pope or to ioyne in rites and ceremonies with his Church or to be incorporated into that body or to vse the same leiturgie and forme of prayer which that Church vseth All appellations amongst them haue bin to the Patriarch of Constantinople as to the highest Bishop Sixtly what authoritie soeuer the Pope hath had ouer the Latine Church and West part of the world it hath beene giuen him by humane constitutions onely and generall consent of Princes and States which they suffered him to enioy during their owne good liking and no longer And last of all our owne experience can enforme vs that the Catholike princes which are most of all deuoted to the Sea of Rome will be so farre subiect as they thinke fit and no further Charles the fift late Emperor and King of Spaine tooke prisoner Clement the Pope when hee resisted his proceedings in Italie and Queene Mary made her Cosin Cardinall Pole Arch-Bishop of Canterburie though the Pope withstood it neither doe the Kings of France though of the Romish religion euer suffer the Popes to beare any stroke in the election of their Bishops I wish therefore that they would be better aduised before they lay scisme vnto our charge Chap. V. Of Discord and Inconstancie THe vsuall obiections against vs were wont to be that wee haue sects and diuisions among vs. But so had they oftentimes Eckius against Pighius Thomas against Scotus so had the Apostles Peter against Paul and Paul against Barnabas some were of Paul some of Apollo and some of Cephas We contend about white and blacke round and square but in matters of religion we agree That concerning the booke of common prayer when the masse was first put downe king Henry had his English Leiturgie and that was iudged absolute without exception but when King Edward came to the Crowne that was condemned and other in the place which Peter Martyr and Bucer did approoue as very consonant to Gods word When Queene Elizabeth beganne hir raigne the former was iudged to be full of imperfections and a new was deuised and allowed by the consent of the Clergie But about the middle of her raigne wee grew weary of that booke and great meanes haue beene wrought to abandon that and establish an other which although it was not obtained yet we doe at the least at euery change of Prince change our booke of common prayers we be so wanton that we know not what we would haue I answer they haue done the like they cannot denie it for proofe whereof I referre them to the preface which is set before their owne Breuiary wherein it is specified how many times their owne Breuiary hath beene altered It is no discredit either to them or vs to alter for the better and to correct that which we finde amisse All faults are not espied at once neither is all truth reuealed at once But it is damnable to perseuere and continue in an error after it is found out and not to imbrace a truth after it is reuealed The Church had a time of growing three hundred yeares after Christ being then watered and made fruitefull by the bloud of Martyrs then the religion of Rome was found according to that which Saint Paul doth testifie in his Epistle to the Romanes the Bishops thereof Rom. 1. continued zealous and were commonly martired The Church had a time of florishing three hundred yeares which beganne when Constantine the great granted peace vnto the gospel and persecution ceased so long found doctrine was preached But the Church afterward beganne to decay and so went backeward vntill Gregory the great in whose time corruption began to creepe in and so ranne ouer the whole body of the Church and euery christian Kingdome which were members of that body so that the whole visible Catholike Church through the world was mightily deformed Then Luther in his time beganne a reformation againe though he reformed not the whole yet he reformed some partes like a Phygtion which finding a mans body full of sores healeth some members although he be not able

captiues seauentie yeares in Babel and learned the language of the land where they dwelt which was Calde and yet not able to speake it naturally they spake a third kinde of dialect which was the Syriac consisting partly of the Hebrue and partly of the Chalde which language to them became their mother tongue as appeareth by the Syriac words in the ghospel which are therefore called Hebrue because at that time the Hebrues spake them I answere first to the story out of the story The text hath And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men women and of all that could heare and vnderstand it Againe he read there in the streete that was before the water gate from the morning vntill midday before men and women and them that vnderstood it Therefore it is euident by the testimony of the holy ghost that the people vnderstood that language wherein the law was written and read vnto them Bellarmine asketh what neede there was then of an expositour I answere the Leuites expounded not the words but the sense for the text saith The Leuites caused the people to vnderstand the law and in the next verse is explained how the people were caused to vnderstand the law not the words of the law but the law it selfe not the tongue wherein the law was written but the meaning of it for so it followeth in the 8. verse And they read in the booke of the law of God distinctly and gaue the sense and caused the people to vnderstand the reading that is they preached vpon it And forasmuch as the story saith they read distinctly what neede was there of distinct reading to them which vnderstood not the language I answere to his obseruation Forasmuch as the Chalde and Syriac were but dialects of the Hebrew as the Doric and Ionic are but Dialects of the Greeke and the Scottish tongue is a dialect of the English it was incredible that the Iewes in their captiuitie hauing among them Prophets and zealous Priests their selues being also zealous and fully assured to returne againe should so forget their tongue as not to vnderstand their owne Bible so well as the Dorics vnderstand common Greeke and the Scottish men do vnderstand English But which is more although the manner of the Iewes euer hath bin when they were dwelling in strange places to speake the language of the place where they dwelt as I know by my owne experience the Iewes at Frankefort speake Dutch of Prage Bohemish c which tongues haue no affinitie with the Hebrew yet in all places their seruice is in Hebrew and their custome as it hath beene so still continueth to teach their Children so much Hebrew as may be sufficient to vnderstand the Bible and it is manifest by the storie that the Iewes in Babylon did the like Last of all Concerning our prayers if they do vvell looke ouer their ovvne missall or Masse-booke vvhich vvas vsed in England according to the custome of Sarum and conferre it with our Seruice booke they shall finde that there are few things in it but they are either taken out of the Bible or which vvas good in that missal so that they cannot easily mislike our seruice book vnlesse they vvill condemne a best parte of their ovvne Masse-Booke and the Bible So then they may safely come to our Church vve cannot vvithout violating our conscience come to theirs our prayers are in English which all they vnderstand their prayers are in Latin which our people vnderstand not they pray for the dead without warrant we for the liuing for the which they confesse wee haue warrant enough they pray to the dead which wee for iust causes disallow wee pray to the liuing onely I meane the liuing God against which they take no exception Of the Sacraments COncerning the number of Sacraments we will not dispute for as they define a Sacrament there are more than seauen as we define it there are but two This therefore shall not breed any such iarre betweene vs that therefore wee should refuse to communicate together Of Baptisme WEe hold them which are baptized in the Church of Rome to be so sufficiently baptized that they may not be baptized againe neither do they rebaptize them which haue bin baptized in our Church Of the Lordes Supper AS often as we be made partakers of the Lordes Table wee 1. Corint 11 receiue the Lords body because he hath saide it his owne selfe We receiue it with reuerence and deuotion because it is his body For we must not as the Apostle speaketh eate it vnworthily lest so we be guiltie of the Lords body neither will we eate our owne damnation for not discerning the Lordes bodie But how it is his body we cannot see by the eyes of our bodies or humane reason neither can they onely wee discerne it by the eyes of faith and so ought they to do Stephen Gardiner and the learned of their Church were wont to say it was his bodie ineffabili modo after an vnspeakable maner after such a maner as mens tongues could not vtter And therefore as the Vniuersitie of Tiguri putteth them in minde they seeme to haue forgotten what they said before when they take vpon them to farimodum that is Contrà testament Brentij to expresse in plaine terms of logicke yet cleane contrary and repugnant to the rules of logicke his body to be really naturally and substantially hidden and comprehended vnder the accidents of bread It is very strange both to expresse that which they say cannot be expressed and that the accidents of bread can haue their being when the bread it selfe hath no being in whose only being their essence and being doth consist But be it as it is no man can know more or sooner than God wil reueale what expositions soeuer the subtitle and varietie of mens wits do deuise this sacrament is in our Church administred by vs as it was by our Sauior Christ and is set downe in the story of the Gospel I would know therefore what exception they take against it why they should not receiue it with vs It is no scruple or barre to their consciences in what sence we do vnderstand it so as we deliuer it vnto them according to the true manner and forme of our Sauiour Christ his institution And if they will submit themselues to the lawes of our Church and receiue it at our handes we will not be ouer-hastie with them to examine them how they doe expound the wordes Hoc est corpus meum This is my bodie For we know they cannot eate it but by faith and so we wil leaue them to Gods mercy that he would vouchsafe in good time further to satisfie them lay open and reueale his truth vnto them CHAP. IIII. Of Scisme THey alleadge we are Scismatikes because we haue made a defection from the Catholike Church and withdrawne our neckes out of the yoake of obedience to the head of the Church