Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	world_n	write_v	year_n	232	4	4.4903	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B00888	The Christian manuell, or of the life and maners of true Christians. A treatise, wherein is plentifully declared, how needefull it is for the seruaunts of God to manifest and declare to the world: their faith by their deedes, their words by their works, and their profession by their conuersation. VVritten by Ihon VVoolton minister of the Gospel, in the Cathedral church of Excetor.	Woolton, John, 1535?-1594.	1576 (1576)	STC 25976; Interim Tract Supplement Guide G.1999[2]	81,916	210

and cheerefull minde in the same O happie is that man that so staieth him selfe in an assured trust of Gods mercie in Chricte that humblie and hartilie agniseth his faultes and offences that carefullie endeuoureth to walke in newnesse and holinesse of l●fe But O most vnhappy are those that wander in diffydence and distrust that thinke too well of them selues boasting vvith the Pharisees their actes and deedes that neglecte an honest and godlie life Vnto whome the Lorde wyll saie at the last daie I neuer knew you depart from me you workers of iniquity into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the Deuill and his angels VVheras on the other side the true Christians shall heare that ioyfull speach VVell done thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast bene faithfull ouer few things I wyll make thee rular ouer many thinges enter thou into the ioye of thy Lorde Come ye blessed children of my father enherite the kingdome which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world Of the which two sortes of men to witte of false Christians in name and tittle onelie and of true Christians in worde and worke I haue writtē more largelie in this Treatise folowing VVhich I thought good to present vnto your vvorship moued thervnto for diuerse and sundrie causes First with the cōmon and vniuersall reporte of that great wisedome and iustice wherewith God hath indewed you by the one discerning betweene right and wrong by the other putting the same in execution in your office and calling which is saide by Cicero to be the Ladie and Queene of all vertues and of Aristotle to bee more bewtifull and bright then the Day starre it selfe Secondlie in respect of that great care which you haue nowe a long tyme vsed for the good estate of Collegies and houses of learning in the Vniuersitie VVhich thing Plato saide especiallie to belong vnto a good Magistrate to prouide that childrē borne to common societie should be well brought vp for the common commoditie Thirdlie for that it hath pleased God to appoint mee the Paster and shepheard of mennes soules in one of thos● Manners where the tytle and interest of temporall Lordes and lyuinges together with the regiment of mennes manners in a Cyuile lyfe is vnder the Prince cōmitted vnto your worshippe VVhere the states of many of your poore Tenauntes being tyckle and doubtfull yet you ioyne pittie and clemencie with iustice and equitie VVhich as that reuerend father Saint Augustine writeth Is the inheritaunce of children the ioye of the Commons and the comfort of the poore And as no time in this worlde shal be able to consume this true honour and vertue of yours so wyll not the same be vnrewarded in that great daie at the kandes of the almightie and eternall God whome increase you in all honour and dignitie At VVhymple the xx of Nouember Anno. Dom. 1576. Your worshippes humble John VVoolton ¶ A Christian Manuell THe very name of a Christian is most bewtifull and honorable and the bare worde caryeth a certaine maiestie but as our Lorde and sauior Iesus Christ rebuked the Iewes vainly vaunting of theyr father Abraham If yee were Abrahams children yee woulde do● the workes of Abraham so wyll he aunswere wycked men with sharpe speache at the great daye If yee had bene Christians yee would haue followed my example I neuer knewe you depart from mee ye workers of iniquity And albeit wée reade that the Apostles gaue many excellent tytles vnto those that beléeued in Christ embraced his gospell ioyned them selues to his church and congregation as the name of Brethren Saintes and Disciples yet at Antioche they obtained first that noble and royall name of Christians as a tytle which in honour and dignitie not onely comprehendeth but also farre passeth al other styles and inscriptions Eusebius Pamphilius commending Christian fayth and relygion vnto the worlde ertolleth the same not onely for the reuerend Maiestie which the name importeth but also for the antiquitie auncientnesse as hauing bene alwayes since the creation of the world whereby only all holy men haue pleased God and atteyned to euerlasting felycitye Whose sentence and iudgement maye happely seeme straunge to some simple and vnlearned personnes caryed with that vaine opynion that Christian relygion dyd first beginne in the dayes of Tiberius Caesar mooued as it is lykely with Saint Luke his gospell where it is written that Iohn the Baptist began to preach in the fifteenth yéere of Tiberius and also because Historyes generally almost consent that Iesus Christ the sauiour of the worlde was crucifyed the eyght●enth yeere of the same Emperor It can not verily bee denyed but that all Prophecies were complete and true saluation perfected in that tyme And it must needes bée graunted that Christes most precious treasures were then opened and communicated vnto the worlde more plainly and plentifullye then euer before Yet the same saluation was shaddowed long before by the Prophetes and promised vnto the Fathers in Christe Iesus where it came to passe that they dyd foresee in theyr spirite Christ to come and as we nowe doo put their whoale trust and confidence in him onely These thinges are proposed offered and exhibited in deede most absolutely and clearly vnto vs vnder the new Testament and in the tyme of grace which they vnder the Lawe had in hope and that certaine albeit somewhat more obscurely then we now haue and looked for the same with most constant and ardent myndes The wordes of Eusebius touching this matter are as followeth Nowe least any man shoulde thinke that Christes doctrine is straunge or latelye deuised of some newe fangled fellowe wee meane to wryte of this matter somewhat more largely VVheras nowe a good space the comming and presence of our Lorde Iesus Christ began to shyne as it were to the worlde a new nation and profession sprong vp not few in number nor weake in strēgth not shut vp in a corner of the world but gathered of all countreyes who in seruing and honouring of God were most zealous religious obtaining the name of Christians VVhich thing was spokē of before by one of the Prophetes who euer heard or sawe sayeth he any such thinges doth the ground beare in one day or are the people borne all at once as Syon trauelleth in childbirth and beareth her sonnes and in another place Then shall the Gentils see thy rightwisnesse breake forth as the shyning lyght and their saluation as a burning lampe thou shalt be named with a new name which the mouth of the Lord shal shew Therfore making a supputatiō vpward euen from Abraham vnto the first man Adam albeit they had not in very letters the bare name yet in effecte truth they were Christians For in fowre yeres after Christes ascention the disciples obtained the name of Christians Nowe if the name of a Christian importeth one that beleeueth in Christ and that pursueth faith pitie

and iustice by his word surely the holye Patriarches were suche men and therefore to be accoumpted amongst the number of Christians Hytherto Eusebius But touching the word Christians it maye be gathered by that which hath bene spoken before that the faithfull were so named first at Antioche because they professed Iesus Christe to be the sonne of the lyuing god And although that maye séeme to haue cōmen to passe by an imytation of the Philosophers who were deuided into diuers sects and receyued names after theyr Maisters yet no doubte this name was geuen to the faithfull by the inspiration of Gods spirit the doctour guider of his church For after the gospell was caryed out of the borders of Iewrie and spred it selfe farre abroade the faithfull reioysed in this name as it maye appeare by the saying of king Agrippa mooued with S. Paules oration Thou doest almost perwade me to be a Christian and S. Peter See that none of you bee punished as a murderer or as a theefe or as an euyll doer or as a busie bodie in other mens matters If any man suffer as a Christian man let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalfe The wicked men were caryed with a wonderful mallice and hatred against this name Tertullus that prating Sicophant tearmed odiously the profession of the gospell The heresie of the Nazarites And it appeareth by Iustine the Martyr Tertullyan Eusebius and such lyke the very profession of this name was accoumpted a thing worthy of condempnation and the denyal of the same obtained absolution as though the name caried with it an offēce to be continued or deposed with the same Which was nothing else but a blinde furor in those whose eyes Satā the God of this world had put out so that they could not see the cleare lyght Neyther consider as Athenagoras wittely answered That names are not worthy hatred but the fact and faulte Or as Iustinus the martyr writ That the bare name ought neyther to procure credite nor discredite Suche was the opinion of prophane men of the name Christian euen the greene herb and first spring of the gospell But the sense iudgement of the godly was far other wise who accompted no name or tytle more reuerend and honorable They were perswaded that this name was inuented and geuen by God himself partly for a difference between them of the olde new Testament and partly to kindle inflame their faith in Christ being by the remembrance and recytall of the very name moued to bee thankfull for his vnspeakable benefits For euery man ought to consider with himself the he hath the name of a christiā because he is ingraffed in Christ as the branche in the stocke or as the member in the head so to receyue of his moystnesse and lyfe and to be partaker of his benefites For there is no other word that doeth more significantlye expresse the entyre cōiunction which is between Christ his Church which is liuely set out in the parable of the mariage wherby we are said to be flesh of his flesh bone of his bones as doth the word Christian As soone as we heare that swéete sound we call to memory that we are made a liuely Priesthode to offer spirituall sacrifices So that this word is as it were a sacrament assuring al professors of the gospell of the accomplishment of that holy Vnction whereof Dauid maketh mention for God is good and true and doeth not deceyue them that put theyr trust in him And he gaue the name of Christ to his onely begotten sonne and answered the same in déede He annointed him with the oyle of gladnesse aboue his fellowes He therefore hath also annoynted vs his fellowes heyres brethren with the same oyle albeit not so plentifully as their elder brother The tytle therefore is honourable and comfortable as all those right well perceyue that haue any taste féeling of Gods mysteries What a swéete speache of God is this Touch not my Christes doth he not plainly declare that he déerely loueth those whom he adorneth with that name Surely S. Hierom thinketh this to be that name which the lyuing God by the mouth of his Prophete promised to geue his seruaunt that in place of the manifold names of Israel Ephraim Ioseph Iacob they should be called Christians Howsoeuer therefore this name hath bene contemned and hated of prophane men yet amongst the seruaunts of God it hath alwayes bene accoumpted most honorable and preferred to all other tytles Saint Hierome wryting to Furia happening to make mention of her father addeth expresly that he bonored him more for the name of a Christian then because he had eyther bene a Senator or a Consull But wée ought alwayes to vse this concorde that we be in déede such men as we would be accoumpted and called For the very name doth admonish men not onely of their honor and dignity but also of their office and duetie And as by Sacraments which S. Augustine calleth visible wordes men are put in minde of their calling euen so are Christians by that name admonished of their partes and functions And as the vnworthy partakers of Sacraments receyue the same to their owne damnation euen so those that vsurpe this noble name and performe it not in theyr lyuing and maners shall feele the heauy hande of God for their presumption and wickednesse Whereof Saint Paule rendreth a reason saying For the name of God is euyl spokē of amongst the Gentiles through you And the Prophete My name is alwayes blasphemed And in another place They came vnto the Gentyles and prophaned my name amongste them And againe My name is great amongst the Gētiles but you haue prophaned it In which place the people are charged with two great offences first that they made God as a reproche secondly that they abused his name and lawe wherewith in his mercy be vouchsafed to honour them Whereby we may easily perceyue what an heynous offence it is to bragge and boast of the name of Christians and of the worde of God and yet in daylye violating and transgressing the same to prophane Gods name amongst the people which is no other thing but to playe and dallye with his reuerende name and maiestie This is nothing else but the subtyle practise of our enemie the Deuyll who by his sleyghtes and temptations bryngeth it to passe that those thinges which shoulde serue to Gods glorie and our owne saluation wée by prophanation and abuse cōuert to our owne destruction Whiche thing we see to often veryfyed in these our synfull tymes whyles many lyppe gospellers and protestantes haue commonlye in theyr mouthes Iesus Christ his gospell and fayth and yet so lyue that the name of Christe and his gospell is euyll spoken of But this gréeuous accusation of carnall gospellers is auncient and generall vsed as we see by the Prophetes against