Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	bishop_n	paul_n	timothy_n	1,948	5	11.2588	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19267	An admonition to the people of England vvherein are ansvvered, not onely the slaunderous vntruethes, reprochfully vttered by Martin the libeller, but also many other crimes by some of his broode, obiected generally against all bishops, and the chiefe of the cleargie, purposely to deface and discredite the present state of the Church. Seene and allowed by authoritie.	Cooper, Thomas, 1517?-1594.	1589 (1589)	STC 5682; ESTC S118522	145,211	254

comparison of that perfect rule of a Minister that S. Paul requireth It is wel knowen as it is before recited that there be a number of parishes in this Realme the liuings vvhere of are so small that no man sufficiently learned will content himselfe vvith them In some one meane shire there bee aboue foure score Chappels to be serued onely by Curates with very small stipends To place able men in them is vnpossible For neither sufficient number of learned men can be had nor if there coulde woulde they be contented to bee to such places appoynted And to leaue those parishes and places vnserued of common prayer and administration of the Sacraments were an inconuenience as great on the other part For it bringeth men to an heathenish forgetfulnesse of God To ease this matter by combinations and ioyning of many parishes together as some deuise besides other inconueniences the thing is not in the Bishops authoritie nor possible for him to doe Euery parish hath a sundrie patrone which wil neuer bee brough to agree to that purpose and to forgoe their patrimonie and heritage Nowe to attempt the matter by making a law for that purpose woulde be occasion of so great troubles and alterations as would draw with them more inconneniences then would stand with the safe state of this common weale as the wiser sort doe see and were easie for me to declare if it were pertinent to this matter here to lay them downe in writing The only remedie that necessitie beareth is to tollerate some of the meaner sort of Ministers hauing carefull consideration so much as diligence can doe that the same may be of life behauiour honest and godly and such at the least as may bee able to instruct the parish in the Catechisme And surely I hope by the care of the Bishops that they haue alreadie vndertaken this thing will be either altogether or in a good part brought to effect ere long time passe Obiection But some will say that all this is but a cloake of colourable reason to hide an vnexcusable fault For that no necessitie can excuse a man to breake the law of God and Gods holy commandement is vttered by Saint Paul that among other properties a Minister shoulde bee Aptus ad docendum that is able to teach and therefore no Bishop can bee borne with in making an vnlearned Minister For he may not doe euill that good may come thereof Answere For answere hereunto it cannot bee denyed but the rule which Saint Paul giueth is an exact rule and such an absolute description of a Minister as is according to Christian perfection and therefore that all Ministers ought to bee correspondent to the same And so much as they want thereof they lacke of their perfect state Yea and ecclesiasticall gouernours shoulde carefully see so much as humane frailtie and the miserable state of this worlde will suffer that al Ministers of the Church of God be such And when they doe faile heerein they offend and goe from that perfection that the worde of God requireth But yet I doubt not but God of his great mercie in Christ our Sauiour will gratiously consider that he hath to doe with flesh and blood and that euen his best children liue not here in an heauenly state but in a miserable and wretched world and specially when hee seeth that they offend not of negligence or malicious wickednesse but are carried with the necessitie of this earthly frailtie For if GOD shoulde measure all things done in his Church by the perfect rule of his word who should be able to stand before him We may not therefore either condemne other or esteeme our selues condemned before God if through the frailtie of the worlde we be not able to frame all things in his Church to such perfectnesse as his holy word appoynteth As the description of a Minister deliuered by Saint Paul to Timothie and Titus is perfect so doth it containe many branches properties to the number of I thinke twentie or aboue As that he must bee vnreproueable the husband of one wife watching temperat modest not froward not angrie one that loueth goodnesse righteous holy harberous apt to teach holding fast the wholesome worde according to doctrine able to exhort with wholsome doctrine and conuince them that say against it not giuen to much wine no striker not giuen to filthie lucre gentle no quarreller not couetous one that can rule his owne house keeping his wife and children in honest obedience not a yong scholler least hee be puffed vp with selfe liking well reported of graue not double tongued holding the mysterie of the faith in a pure conscience If they will admit no Ministers as lawful but such as shall haue fully all these properties Surely they will cut from Churches the greatest part or all the Ministers that they haue Euen that one propertie which they so greatly call vpon as of all other most necessarie that is that hee shoulde be apt to teach that is as Saint Paul expoundeth himselfe to be sufficiently able to teach them that bee willing and to conuince the aduersarie If it be pressed to the extremitie and rigour thereof it comprehendeth so much as it will exclude a great many of Ministers and Preachers which in their measure doe good seruice in the Church of God The best writers that euer I did reade vpon that say That to the performance of the same a man must haue readie knowledge in the Scriptures the vnderstanding of the tongues the reading of the ancient Fathers and histories of antiquitie If a great many of them woulde looke into their owne bosomes and measure themselues by this rule of sufficiencie they woulde not iudge so rigorously of other nor be so rash to condemne them Wee see in the Scriptures that God sometime beareth with breach of his cōmandement falling by the necessitie of our fraile life God gaue in charge as before is sayde that none shoulde eate of the Shew-bread but the Priestes And yet in necessitie Dauid did eate of it though he were no Priest The Machabies fought on the Sabboth day contrary to this commandement Thou shalt keepe holy the Sabboth day and yet it is not read that God was therfore displeased with them or tooke punishment of them though the Scripture mention that one without necessitie gathering stickes on the Sabboth day was stoned to death Christ himselfe may seeme to giue the reason for their defence when he saith The Sabboth was ordeined for man and not man for the Sabboth Yea in a morall cōmandement of God touching mariage we see God to vse a maner of dispensation in respect of the frailtie of mans nature The Scripture saith precisely Quos Deus coniunxit homone separet and yet in the lawe wee finde this dispensation or qualifying thereof When a man hath taken a wife and married her if she finde no fauour in his eyes c. then let him make

gouernours of Prouinces to be punished if they neglect to execute the same But I wil make no longer discourse herein Such as doe doubt hereof and desire to be better satisfied I referre them to a Treatise which Maister Beza hath writtē for that matter I haue taried the longer in this part for that I am desirous to let the indifferēt christian reader vnderstand that it is but an assectionate iudgemēt of some when they impute the only cause to be in bishops why there is in these dayes so great back sliding from the Gospell so great mischiefe deuised against the Prince the State It appeareth their mindes are blinded with affection that they cannot see the trueth AN other crime layde against Bishoppes is that they maintaine pilling and pouling and as some in despite terme them bawdy courts If they maintayne courtes for the administration of Iustice in such thinges as are vvithin their charge they doe as I am persvvaded by Gods law they may doe and as by the lawes of this Realme and state of this Church they ought to doe But if they mayntaine pouling in their Courtes that in deede is vvorthy blame and by no pretence can bee salued For as all Magistrates ought to deale vprightly and vvithout corruption so principally such as be Spirituall and of the Church of God But hovv is it prooued that Bishops maintaine pouling Courtes Surely I knovve not For they doe not lay it dovvne in particulars If they did I thinke the matter might easily be answered vvith good reason It may bee they thinke the vnder-Officers take money and bribes where they should not For that is polling and extortion If it bee so it is euill and not to be suffered and vpon proofe the Lavve appoynteth sharpe punishment Though it bee true that they surmise in this case that Officers are so corrupt it is one thing to say The Officers vse pouling and another to say The bishop maintaineth a pouling Court A bishop may haue an euill Officer vvhome yet he vvill not maintaine no nor suffer if he knevve it and be able to redresse it I am in persvvasion there is no bishop in this Realme but if it be complayned of and proofe made vnto him that his officers take more then is prescribed by order and lavv that they may doe but wil mislike with the thing and doe his best to see it redressed Or if hee will not I fauour not their State so much but that I could vvish him to be punished himselfe But if a Bishops Officers shall be counted to poule when they take no more then the ordinary fees and duties by Lawe allowed the bishop when he beareth with the same shall bee called a maintainer of a poulling Court this is a matter in a slaunderer to be punished and not a fault in a bishop to bee blamed By this meanes all the Courtes in Englande may bee defamed and called poulling Courtes and the Officers or Iudges vnder whose authoritie they stande may bee reprooued as mainteners of poulling Courtes Bee it that there is vnlawfull taking in many Courtes of this Realme as happily there is in some by greedie Officers were it therefore the duetie of christian godly subiects to spread libels against the Prince or chiefe gouernors as mainteners of corruption briberie and pouling An hard matter it is in so corrupt times for anie magistrate to warrant the doinges of all inferiour officers I pray God this making of exception to Courtes and officers goe no further then to the officers of bishops and of the Cleargie Whatsoeuer they pretend the very root of the matter is this The whole state Ecclesiasticall by the loosenesse of this time is growen into hatred contempt all inferiour subiectes disdaine in any poynt to be ruled by them And therfore when they be called conuēted and punished for such things wherin they haue offended or be brideled of that they would do disorderly they grudge at it their stomackes rise against it and thinke al that is done to be vnlawfull though it be neuer so iust And because they are not able otherwise to be reuenged they crie out that they be cruel and poulling Courts Obiection To cut off the whole matter it wil be said that by the word of God it is not lawfull for bishops to haue such Courtes nor to exercise such iurisdiction Answere Yet truly I must answere that it is lawful for christian subiects to obey it and vnlawfull for them to kicke and spurne against it seeing it standeth by authoritie of the Lawes and of our Christian and gracious prince by whom God hath sent to vs and doeth continue with vs the free course of his Gospell But why may not a bishop exercise iurisdiction haue a Court to iudge determine and ende matters Surely Saint Paule sayth to Timothie Against a Priest or Elder receiue no accusation vnder two or three witnesses Here is an accuser Heere is a person accused here are witnesses examined heere is a iudgement and deciding of the matter therefore here is an exercise of iurisdiction and a manner of a Court. They will say It was not Timothies Court onely but ioyntly exercised with the residue of the Elders that had the gouernement Vndoubtedly there is no such thing there in that place The words are directed to Timothie only the adioyning of some other is but the interpretation of some fewe vpon which to build the necessity of a doctrine in the Church of Christ is but hard dealing and not sufficient to ground mens consciences vpon And yet here note you that by this place it is euident that ecclesiasticall persons may haue and vse iurisdiction To prooue that bishops may not alone exercise iurisdiction they adde Christes saying Matthew 18 If thy brother offend thee go and tel him his fault between thee and him alone If he shal heare thee thou hast wonne thy brother but if he wil not heare thee take yet with thee one or two if he wil not heare then Dic Ecclesiae Tell it to the Church Here say they we are willed to tel the Church but the Church cannot be vnderstāded to be one person as the bishop or such like First I answere that by the consent of most interpreters that place speaketh not of the exercise of publike iurisdiction but of a charitable proceeding in priuate offences And Christes large discourse which immediatly following he maketh vnto Peter touching the forgiuing of them that doe offend vs doth very euidētly iustifie that meaning If some do interpret the place otherwise as I haue before said Christians shoulde not build thereupon a generall doctrine of necessitie It will be asked what Christ meant when he said Dic Ecclesiae As some interprete it he meant Tell the Gouernours of the Church After some other Tell it openly in the Church or congregation as Hierome saith Vt qui non potuit pudore saluari saluetur opprobriis that is that hee which could

the Gospel in those parts Namely we haue had B. Cranmer Ridley Latimer Couerdale Hooper diuers other vvhich were no Bishops as M. Bradford M. Sanders M. Rogers M. Philpot D. Haddon c. Most of vvhich as they haue left good proofe of their learning in vvriting so did they confirme the same vvith their blood in the ende The like I may iustly say of them vvhome God hath sent to restore his Trueth since the beginning of her Maiesties reigne hovvsoeuer it pleaseth the Broode of the Martinists to deface them as Bishoppe Coxe Pilkington Grindall Sands Horne Iewell c. vvhich haue good testimonie of their learning giuen them by as graue learned and zealous men as any haue liued in this age among vvhome for certaine yeeres they liued A nomber of other haue proceeded out of both our Vniuersities vvhich though Martin Momus will say the contrary deserue singular commēdation for their learning and haue declared the same to the vvorlde in ansvvering and confuting the opprobrious writings of the common Aduersaries In vvhich their ansvveres without enuie and displeasure be it spoken there appeareth as sufficient learning as doeth in the most workes at this time published by the vvriters of forreine Countreies If Englishmen at this time so greatly dispraysed vvere giuen vvith like paynes to set foorth the exercises of their studie and learning as in other places they doe they vvoulde dravve as good commendation of learning to their Countrey as most other Churches doe To vvhich nomber of ours I adde also some of thē vvhom certaine occasions haue caried away to the misliking of the present state of this Church vvhich I knowe haue receiued of God singular good giftes which I pray earnestly they may vse to his glory and the procuring the vnity peace of the Church vvhich our Hastie Diuines of M. M. his brood seeke to breake and disturbe This testimonie I thought my selfe bounde in conscience to yeelde to that Church of my naturall Countrey in vvhich and by vvhich through the mercie of our gracious God I am that I am The godly I trust vvill interprete all to the best the residue I looke not to please The B. of Winchester is further charged in this maner He said that men might find fault if they were disposed to quarrell aswel with the Scriptures as with the booke of common prayer Who could heare this comparison without trembling Let the Libellers whatsoeuer they are remēber Os quodmentitur occidit animam At that time in S. Mary Oueries church in a large discourse he did answere the obiections that many make at this day against the booke of common praier towarde the end vttered these words If it could be without blasphemie they might picke as many as great quarrels against the holy scriptures thēselues For euen the best writings are subiect to the slanderous malice of wicked men This assertion was found fault with all by a Iesuite or Massing priest at that time in the Marshalsey therfore the B. the next Sunday following expounded his meaning and at large shevved that that might be done which beforetime was done by a great number and that he was not so far beside himselfe as to compare the booke of common prayer vvith the holy scriptures in dignity trueth or maiestie He leaueth such blasphemous dealing to the Papists the Family of Loue some other Sectaries but he compared them in this as it is before saide that the Scriptures themselues vvere subiect also to slaunderous and deprauing tongues and yet not therfore to be reiected wherof he recited sundry examples Celsus that heathenish Epicure against whom Origen writeth in his booke called Verax doth powre out many railing slaunderous reproches not onely against the holy Scriptures but also against the course of Christian Religion as that they receiued their religion doctrine of the barbarous Iewes that is out of the bookes of Moses and the Prophets The like did Porphyrius an other Philosopher and in his bookes reprooued the Scriptures in many places for hee wrote thirtie bookes against Christian religion That scoffing sophister Libanius and his scholler Iulian the Apostata vsed the like blasphemies against the Christian faith and the Scriptures out of which it was prooued as appeareth in sundrie auncient Writers Who knoweth not that some Heretikes reiected the most part of the olde Testament as false and fabulous The Valentiniane Heretike sayeth Tertullian Quaedam legis Prophetarum improbat quaedam probat id est Omnia improbat dum quaedam reprobat The Marcionists receiue onely the Gospell of Matthewe the other they reiect And likewise they admitte but two Epistles of Saint Paul that is to Timothie and Titus and as Hierome sayeth to Philemon Tatian also depraueth the Scriptures reiecteth the Actes of the Apostles and picketh sundrie other quarrels against them There was neuer any Heretike but that to giue countenance to his opinion hee would seeme to ground it vpon the Scriptures And what is that but wickedly to father lies vpon the Scriptures And for this cause you know the Papists thinke it no sure ground to rest vpon the scriptures onely affirming blasphemously that the Scriptures are darke vnperfect and doubtfull because they may bee wrested cuery way like a nose of waxe or like a leaden Rule Wherefore Christian charitie and modestie woulde not thus maliciously and slanderously wrest and wring the words of the Bishop tending to a good and godly meaning Of like trueth it is that he burtheneth the Bishop of Winchester to affirme that it was heresie to say The preaching of the worde was the onely ordinarie way to saluation which he neuer thought or spake either thē or at any other time of his life But in handling of that controuersie Penrie spake things so strangely obscurely that he seemed to attribute that effect to the preaching of the word only not otherwise vsed by reading And being vrged with that question by occasion of reading the Scriptures in Churches his answere was such as hee euidently shewed himselfe to meane that that effect of saluatiō could not be wrought by hearing the worde of God read with some other wordes giuing suspition of worse matter And then indeede the B. rose not out of his place as these honest men doe carpe nor spake in such cholerike maner as they pretend but quietly said My Lord this is not farre from heresie What were the words that Penry vsed especially moued the B. to speake hee doeth not at this time remember but sure he is they were as far from that which is laide downe in the Libel as falshoode can be from truth I wonder that mē which professe God yea or that beleeue there is a God can with open mouth so boldely powre foorth such heapes of vntrueths Detractor abominabilis est Deo The counsell of the Prophet is good He that would gladly see good dayes let him refraine his tongue from euill and

a bill of diuorcement and put it in her hand and send her out of his house Of this mercifull bearing of God with the breach of his commandement Christ shevveth the reason Math. 19. saying in this wise For the hardnesse of your hearts God suffered you to put away your wiues but from the beginning it was not so Heere we learne that our gracious and mercifull God for the shunning and auoyding of a greater mischiefe among stubborne people suffered his seruant Moses to giue foorth a more fauourable interpretation of his iust and perfect Lavve and to suffer diuorcements in such cases as the right and rigor of his iustice in itselfe had forbidden This haue I written not of purpose to incourage men to breake and alter the Lawes and ordinances of God but rather to comfort those consciences whith in this case may bee troubled and to put away that opinion wherewith some are led to thinke that that Congregation is not vvorthie the name of a Christian Church nor meete vvherein a good Christian man shoulde abide as Minister where all things are not reformed to the perfect rule of Gods holy worde Surely the auncient Fathers of the primitiue Church doe not seeme to be of that iudgement For they did all find fault with many enormities in their time as vvell in outvvarde ceremonies as corruption of life yea in some point of doctrine also and yet it is not read that they did therefore separate themselues from the Churches or thinke that they could not as faithfull Ministers serue in them Saint Augustine sheweth of himselfe of Saint Cyprian very notably as in many places so chiefly against the Donatists who were infected with that errour but most plainely of all other places De Baptismo contra Donatistas Lib. 4. Cap. 9. Where at large he disputeth this question which place is vvorthie diligent reading and consideration Cyprian had blamed the Bishops and Ministers in his time of Couetousnesse Extortion and Vsurie And yet saith Saint Augustine Cyprian writeth vnto Antonianus that before the last separation of the wicked and the Godly no man ought to separate himselfe from the vnitie of the Church because of the mixture of euill persons What a swelling pride is it sayeth hee what a forgetting of humilitie and mildenesse what a vaunting arrogancie that hee can thinke himselfe able to doe that which Christ woulde not permit to his Apostles that is to separate the weedes from the Corne c. Yea and S. Paul himselfe as before I haue saide iudgeth the Church of Corinth an honorable blessed Church of God though there vvere in the same not onely some blemishes and imperfections but many great enormious faultes Wherefore to returne againe to my purpose though our Bishops through the necessitie of time neither at the beginning had nor novv can haue perfect good Ministers in euery parish within their charge I see no cause vvhy they may not vse such as vvith their best diligence they may haue especially if they order the matter so as the fault bee not in their ovvne negligence or corruption That you may the better conceiue that an vnlearned Ministery for want of preaching of the Gospel is not the cause of the backesliding and reuolting of so many in these dayes nor of sundry other inconueniences imputed to the same you shall easily vnderstand if you will call to your remembrance that when there were fewer Preachers and lesse teaching by great oddes then oflate yeres hath bene the people did not reuolt as now they doe There is therefore some other cause if we will with vpright mindes looke into it There were fevver Preachers and lesse teaching in the dayes of that King of blessed memorie Edward the sixt and yet did not the people then reuolt as novv although the reformation of the Church was then but greenely setled They had the same imperfection and want of Ministers which wee haue novv and that in greater measure in so much as they were faine to helpe out the want with reading of Homilies as you knowe Which deuise although it be greatly misliked and inueighed against in these dayes as intollerable yet did that reuerend and learned father M. Bucer highly commend the same and shewed his good liking thereof willing moe Homilies to bee prepared for that purpose And vvhat were they that were then Preachers and in the state of gouernment of the Church Surely such persons as did diligently obserue those orders in outwarde thinges vvhich the Bishops now for feare of further inconuenience desire and studie to maintaine In the first ten yeeres of her Maiesties most gracious reigne there was little or no backsliding from the Gospell in comparison of that now is yet was there not then so much preaching by the halfe nor so many Preachers in the Church of England by 1000. as now there are And since that time I speake of good experience and better knowledge then gladly I would that in diuers places where there hath beene often preaching and that by learned graue men there haue bene many that haue reuolted and litle good effect declared among the residue You will aske me then what I thinke to be the true cause thereof Surely the causes are many but I will note vnto you onely two or three that bee of greatest weight First to haue the fruites of the Gospell setled in the consciences of men and declared in their liues It is not sufficient to haue often and much preaching but also to haue diligent and reuerent hearing Though the Preachers be neuer so learned and discreet if it bee not heard as the worde of God it is to no purpose But in these dayes as in all other men be easily induced to disburthen themselues and lay the whole fault vpon the Ministers and Preachers Obiection Oh say they if wee had good and zealous Bishoppes and godly Preachers such as the Apostles were vndoubtedly this doctrine of the Gospell woulde haue had better successe and would more haue preuailed in mens hearts For they are not zealous nor seeme to bee mooued with the spirite of God therefore it cannot be that they should moue other Answere Though this reason seeme somewhat plausible to some kind of men and to be of great force to excuse the common people yet I aduertise all them that haue any sparke of the feare of GOD in their hearts that they take heede of it beware that to their own great dāger they be not caried away with it For it hath bene seldome or neuer heard or read that the people of God among whom true doctrine hath bin preached as the Lorde be thanked it hath bene with vs did euer vse such allegations for their ovvne excuse and defence It hath beene alwayes the pretence of the reprobate and wicked to colour their owne obstinacie and contempt of Gods word vvhen they vvere offered the light of the Gospell and called to repentaunce But that these kinde of