Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	call_v	church_n	corinth_n	2,165	5	11.4080	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01736	A short treatise against the Donatists of England, whome we call Brownists Wherein, by the answeres vnto certayne writings of theyrs, diuers of their heresies are noted, with sundry fantasticall opinions. By George Giffard, Minister of Gods holy Word in Maldon.	Gifford, George, d. 1620.	1590 (1590)	STC 11869; ESTC S114289	90,151	124

false manner their worship being made of c. I did deny that by affirming that the worship of our Church is the imbracing the holy Bible by the doctrine thereof c Ye say I beg the question and prooue not our worship by the Bible And I say if yée call it begging you beg the question would haue that graunted vnto yée as true which is most false For excepting imperfections wants spots blemishes faults which destroy not the true worship of God our Church dooth worship the Lord aright without heresie blasphemy or idolatry The doctrine of our Church is published if yée can take exception against any point to be heresie or blasphemie bring it foorth that it may be tried by the Bible Then next yée complaine further that I do not answer one of those 4. apparant reasons which yée bring why it is false and contrary to the Bible Well then they may now be considered Thus yée haue noted them with figures ouer the head our worship being made of the 1 inuention of man euen of the 2 man of sinne 3 erronious and 4 imposed vpon vs. I know not for what cause they should be called apparant vnlesse by a farre fetched trope of Metonymie because they manifest and make apparant your vanitie and Anabaptisticall error For the first thrée be no more but one bare affirmation of that principall transgression which yée charge vs withall For all false worship is mans inuention whether it be the inuention of the man of sinne or of any other man it is all one before God who respecteth not persons but the wickednesse of the sinne Also to be mans inuention in Gods worship and to be erronious is all one For whatsoeuer man inuenteth in Gods worship is erronious and whatsoeuer in the same is erronious hath béene inuented by man So that the thrée first are all one bare affirmation and the very same with your article Your Anabaptisticall error is in the fourth for yée challenge such a fréedome to the Church as that nothing may be imposed vpon the flockes no not any thing that the Church gouernours shall decrée by the word which dooth ouerthrow the discipline in a great part Then yée procéed and say for further manifestation of our worship in particular let the booke of Common prayer be examined by the word of God which yée terme a great pregnant idoll full of errors blasphemies and abhominations If the booke stand to be tried by Gods word there is no doubt but as all things done by men euen the best it shall be found vnperfect He that will haue it to be no true worship of God in which there be errors and spots holdeth the heresie of perfection which is very foule and detestable for it is as farre beyond our power to bee perfect in Gods worship as to performe perfect obedience in the second table of the lawe And touching the booke of Common prayer let the reader consider it is not the question betwéene vs whether there be faults in it great faults or how many but whether it be a great pregnant idol full of heresies blasphemies and abhominations I confesse that all men ought with vtter detestation to shunne our worship if it be such as you accuse it But indéed your accusation is false your slaunders are foule and impudent This shall appeare by following your words as they be set downe where yée name those blasphemous abhominations which yée charge the booke withall in their seueral rankes Yée aske vs where we find in the new Testament our Romish fasts our Ember daies Saints éeues and Lent I am indéed out of all doubt and most assured that if a man read ouer not onely the new Testament but also both old and new from the very beginning to the end he shall neuer finde any allowance of Romish fasts I say likewise of the Booke of Common prayer that there be no Romish fasts in it and that yée doo most iniuriously slaunder and belie vs in matching our Church in this point with the blasphemous synagog of Rome For that Antichristian Church de rogating in all things from the Crosse of Christ hath vpon certaine daies and at certaine times times appointed an abstinence from meates placing therein the worship of God remission of sinnes and the merite of eternall life The Church of England dooth vtterly condemne this as the doctrine of Diuels 1. Timoth. 4 pronouncing them enimies to the crosse of Christ which maintaine meritorious fasting We teach that the kingdome of God is not meat and drinke but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy-ghost Rom. 14. And that there is no holinesse in eating or not eating but an abstinence whereby we may humble our selues and be more feruent in prayer The politike lawes of this land which appoint that vpon certaine daies men shall not eat flesh doo it in respect of the common-wealth as to maintaine Nauigation so much the better by incouraging men to fish and for the spare of the bréed of yoong cattle appointing moreouer a penaltie for such as shall take the daies to be obserued as meritorious Romish fasts Therefore let all men héere at the first consider how sophistically yée doo argue that the Church of England dooth absteine from flesh vpon ember dayes Saints Eues and in Lent therefore the Church of England dooth maintaine and obserue Romish fasts Thus dooth one cracke of your great ordinance vanish onely into smoake Then yée say your idol feasts your Alhallowes Candlemas seuerall Lady dayes Saints dayes and dedicating Churches vnto Saints Héere also yée thunder out terror as if the Church of England did worship idols and celebrate feasts in the honour of false gods and yet all is but a starke lie and a wicked slander And I would wish all men to obserue the boldnesse and eloquence which yée haue in this vaine For whereas the synagog of Antichrist denying the onelye mediation of our blessed Lord Iesus did set vp the Saints as mediators did praye vnto them worship them celebrate holy dayes in their honour and dedicate churches vnto them the Church of England for these and such like abhominations hath separate her selfe from them teaching by the holye Scriptures that there is one God and one mediator betwéene God and man the man Iesus Christ That the same only true God is to be worshipped alone and called vppon through the only mediation of his beloued Sonne in whome he is well pleased That Saincts are not to be worshipped neyther the blessed Virgin nor any other nor no dayes to be celebrated in their honour nor Churches dedicated vnto thē how bitterly then do you sclaunder Ye will reply that the Saincts dayes be kept in our Church yea but ye must shewe that they be kept in their honour which ye shall not be able to doo séeing the contrary is manifest the Statute expressing that our Church doth call thē Holydayes not for the Saincts sakes but for the holy exercises

vsed vpon them in publike assemblyes Diuers Churches also among vs are called by the names of those Saincts which they were dedicated vnto but to say that we do therefore dedicate Churches vnto them is very ridiculous In the City Athens there was a place of Iudgement which bare the name of Mars S. Luke calleth it by the same name doth he therefore dedicate it also vnto that heathen God of battaile When we call S. Peters Church or Paules Churchyard it is but to distinguish them by the names by which they are commonly knowne and called Then follow our Comminations Rogations Purifications Touching Comminations they be a part of the Canonicall Scripture which is to be read in the Church Rogations I take to be the compassing in of the limits and bounds of Parishes which is commaunded only to auoide contention and strife that might growe and there is nothing in the booke of Common Prayer touching these that euer I could finde Purifications are annexed only to make vp your riming figure for neither the booke nor the doctrine of the Church of England doth speake of any Purification but only in the bloud of the Lambe There is a Thanksgiuing prescribed for Women after Childbirth but neyther for Iewish Purification or Popish Superstition therefore not in such sort to be condemned After comes in our Tithes Offerings Mortuaries For the Tithes and Mortuaries I do not finde them once named in the booke the Offrings in déede are But ye will say that is no great matter séeing they be in our Church That is true but yet they are but for maintenance of the Ministerie not as a matter tyed of necessitie vnto a Priesthoode as in the time of the Lawe and if they were the error could not be fundamentall In the next place are brought in our manner of visiting the sicke and howsling them with the Sacrament our Absolution blasphemous Dirges and Funerall Sermons ouer and for the dead There is prescribed a manner of visiting the sicke and so is there in the leiturgies of some other Churches that professe the Gospell but where haue ye séene it practised or the practise vrged by those that haue the gouernment of our Church at their hands which are able and diligent Pastors Whereby your iniurious dealing may appeare in charging all the assemblies as they generally stand in England with matters which the greater part do not practise nor yet are required For if the sicke man be by the Minister of the word instructed exhorted comforted and strengthened in faith and repentance yea euery way prepared to depart ioyfully in the Lord it is that which the booke aimeth at neither is there any more required although he vse no prescript forme set downe By your phrase of howsling with the Sacrament ye would make the simple beleeue that the Popish Howsling is retained among vs. This is but a false kind of packing seeing our Church vtterly condemneth all the wicked blasphemous corrupt doctrine of the Papists touching the Lords Supper and also denyeth that a man is of necessitie to receiue this Sacrament at his death If yes replie that howsoeuer we teach yet the booke implyeth a necessitie which appeareth by that it doth appoint a priuate Communion I answer that euen the booke doth denie it to be a matter of necessitie and doth appoint it but to relieue the trouble which might arise in weake consciences through the want thereof for these be the words of the booke The Curates shall diligently from time to time but specially in the Plague time exhort their Parishioners to the often receiuing in the Church of the holy Communion of the bodie and bloud of our Sauiour Christ which if they doo they shall haue no cause in their suddaine visitation to be disquieted for lacke of the same And if any sicke person that would receiue this Sacrament hath any impediment that he can not the Booke willeth the Minister to instruct him that if he do truly repent him of his sinnes and stedfastly beléeue that Iesus Christ hath suffered death vppon the Crosse for him and shead his bloud for his redemption earnestly remembring the benefites he hath thereby and giuing him hartie thanks therefore he doth eate and drincke the Bodie and Bloud of our Sauiour Christ profitably to his soules health although he do not receiue the Sacrament with his mouth How maliciously then do you charge the assemblies in England with howsling the sicke with the Sacrament when all the learned faithfull diligent Pastors do as the booke requireth exhort those that be of their flockes to the often receiuing of this holy Sacrament in the publike assemblie as the due place for publike seales and the people by instruction being growen so strong that they do not in their sicknesse require it and so in the most Congregations which are well taught the thing is not practise● The Sinagog of Antichrist deuised a purgatorie which is blasphemous against the bloud of Christ They had indéed their Dirges euen blasphemous prayers for the dead That Purgatorie do we vtterly deny as a wicked inuention we condemne prayer for the dead and therfore where ye tearme those prayers which are read at burials blasphemous Dirges ouer and for the dead yee are more then impudent in lying Funerall Sermons I finde not inioyned by the booke nor commaunded by any Lawe Ye adde further our corrupt manner of administring the Sacraments the Font the Crosse in Baptisme Baptisme by women Gossippings the blasphemous Collects that we vse vnto this Sacrament Byshopings with all the hereticall Collects of the Booke which as ye say is a wearines vnto ye to repeate though not to vs both to tollerate and defend When ye shewe some reason why the Font is an abhomination I shall knowe what to say Touching the Crosse it must needes be confessed that it was blasphemously and horribly abused in Poperie they ascribing vnto it power to driue out and expell Deuils and worshipping it with deuine honour In my iudgement also the holy Church of God within short time after the blessed Apostles and the reuerend godly Pastors did offend in taking ouermuch libertie to ordeine Ceremonies Symbolicall as that and such like yet no doubt very reuerend godly learned men led by the example of those holy Fathers of olde haue iudged it lawfull for the Church to ordeine such Ceremonies Touching the Baptisme by women it is condemned both by the chéefe gouernours in our Church and others and is not practised vnlesse it be among the popish and supersticious ignorant sort By Gossyppings I suppose yée meane the witnesses at baptisme a thing vsed in the best reformed churches and thought to be expedient so that yée doo not heerein condemne the Church of England but all Churches Bishoping of children is little practised for vnlesse the people require it by offering their children few Bishops doo vrge them thervnto onely this excepted that they be taught and instructed in the Catechisme The

all that doo ioyne together in that societie I might héere make an ende touching this second principall transgression but that there bée certayne particular reasons by which they stand to mayntayne theyr opinion First to this effect many doo speake If there be wicked men suffered to come to the Table of the Lord the Minister and Ecclesiasticall Gouernours doo commit so grieuous a sinne that they can not but be vtterly voyde of the true feare of God Then he which is a wicked man can not be a Minister of Christ and béeing no Minister of Christ there is no Sacrament of Christ deliuered how then shall a man communicate with that assemblie I haue shewed before that there be great sinnes and great neglect of dutie oftentimes where there is the true faith in weakenesse and so they sinne damnablie which take vppon them to iudge them no Christians The faithfull in Corinth were blinded in theyr owne faults and verie securely did the Pastors and Gouernours suffer the incestuous person to continue among them And whereas they say that if the Minister be vngodly he can be no Minister of Christ it is false for the man touching his owne person may be a reprobate and yet touching his ministerie a Minister of Christ Iudas was a Minister of Christ and baptized Iohn 4. ver 2. they were as truly and effectually baptized by him as by Peter and yet in himselfe a Deuill Iohn 6. vers 70. The two Sonnes of Ely were horrible wicked men 1. Sam. 2. ver 12. 22. and yet they are called not only Priests but Priests of the Lord 1. Sam. 1. vers 3. Ely himselfe did offend and was sharply punished that being not only their Father but also high Priest and Iudge he did not put them from the dignitie of the Office but did honour them with the same not regarding Gods honour 1. Sam. 2. vers 29. The Scribes and Pharisies who were not all of the Sonnes of Leuy for Saint Paule was a Pharisie and the Sonne of a Pharisie but yet of the Tribe of Beniamin were Ministers of the Church for Christ sayth They sate in Moyses Chayre and willed men to heare them notwithstanding they were blinde guides hypocrites prowde couetous ambitious and verie reprobates Matth. 23. Then next they alleadge that a little leauen doth leauen the whole lumpe 1. Cor. 5. Therefore where one open notorious Sinner is admitted to be a member of the Church all are leauened and polluted all doo fall from God I aunswere that Saint Paule rebuketh the Corinthes that they were puffed vp and did glorie when they should haue sorrowed for as many as had the power of the Discipline in theyr hands and did neglect were partakers of his sinne and not only they but of priuate members all that did not mourne and lament to sée such a foule matter wincked at As the Lord himselfe doth cléere all those which mourned for the abhominations of Ierusalem Ezechiel 9. so were they frée and not leauened which did mourne at Corinth for such abuses Moreouer it is verie false to say that whole Church was leauened or polluted with the sinne of that wicked man therefore they were not the Church of God For béeing giltie not only in that fault but in many other hée giueth them the honour of Gods Church writing to the Church of God which is at Corinth 1. Corinth 1. Then are obiected the words and commaundement of the Lord by Saint Paule If any that is called a brother be a fornicator or couetouse or an Idolater or a rayler or a drunckard or an extortioner with such see that yee eate not 1. Cor. 5. Some hold that this commaundement is giuen only against the eating with an open sinner at the Lords Table séeing we may eate common bread with such as be verie wicked Others doo argue thus If it be not lawfull to eate common bread with a wicked man how much more vnlawfull shall it be to eate with him that holie bread of the Lords Table as the Anabaptists lighting vpon these words of our Sauiour Christ but I say vnto ye Sweare not at all Matth. 5. do gather that it is vtterlie vnlawfull in any respect or at any time to take an oath and erre in not considering the circumstances whereby the words vttered in generall are to be restrayned vnto the particular abuse and rash swearing Euen so the Brownists taking the words as they stand and not waying the circumstances doo mayntayne absurdities They drawe theyr Argument of comparison from things in which the sinne or pollution is not for the sinne is not in the eating of the common bread neyther in eating the bread of the Lord with the wicked but in circumstances For I may eate bread with open sinners and offend thereby and I may eate bread with notorious wicked men and not offend therein yea I may grieuously sinne in refusing to eate with them I will expresse how If there be open grosse offenders and my familiaritie with them or my eating with them can not be but I shall eyther be partaker of their sinne or countenance and harden them in the same I offend if I doo not shunne their companie If any brother in the Church be conuict of foule sinne found obstinate and so Excommunicate euery member of the Church euen by the commaundement of God is to haue no fellowship with him that he may be ashamed 2. Thes 3. v. 14. But yet we are willed in the same place not to account him as an enimie but to admonish him as a Brother For if men should now in familiaritie receiue him to their table or go to his table it would harden him in his obstinacie and bring the censure and power of the Church into contempt This is that S. Paul dealeth about The wife of this man his children and seruants may eate with him or anye other where it cannot be eschewed for then it dooth not countenance him Now if I be in a ship vpon the sea among a company of vild wicked men or in a prison or in an armie and can haue no meate vnlesse I eate with them if I refuse I famish my selfe to death and so offend gréeuouslie We sée then it is not the very eating with them that dooth defile but the circumstances Euen so is it at the Lordes table where wicked men be admitted For such as doo admit them hauing power to repell do offend in eating there with them because they countenance them in their sinne But nowe a priuate member which is gréeued at this and dooth what lyeth in him to haue it redressed dooth not offend nor is not polluted by eating with them But as he that among the wicked in the ship in the prison or in the Campe doth offend in refusing his bodely sustenance so shall he if he refuse that heauenly foode of his soule for all the wicked cannot corrupt the same vnto him This man hath no fellowship with the vnfrutefull works of darkenesse