Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
saint_n	church_n	communion_n	creed_n	2,413	5	10.5759	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13963	A triall of subscription by way of a preface vnto certaine subscribers; and, reasons for lesse rigour against non-subscribers. Both modestly written; that neither should offend.	Bradshaw, William, 1571-1618.	1599 (1599)	STC 24273; ESTC S106214	16,203	40

lesse for not subscribing to thē and all other partes of ecclesiasticall policie as to ordinances not contrarie to the worde of God FIRST their omission and scruple of such subscription is meerely of a cōscience fearfull to offend in allowing by acte or hande any thing not warrantable by the worde and therefore a meere invention of man According to that of zealous Dauid I hate vaine inuentions but thy Lawe doe I loue For in a godly ielousie of that spiritual whordome whereof the people of GOD ought carefullie to take heede they holde That what soeuer is not according to the expresse scripture or sound conclusion from the same is contrary to the worde Which their opinion omission aunswering therevnto seemeth vnto them grounded vppon the worde and iudgement of authoritie But sith it is not answerable to my present purpose here to sett down manie of their reasons drawne from the sufficiencie of the scriptures which can suffer neither adding nor diminishing declining to the right nor to the lefte hande from the sinceritie of the Gospell whiche can not brooke Iewishe much lesse Romishe ceremonies And from sundrie other good cōsiderations generall and particular I onely craue fauour to sett down one or two That the tendernes of their cōscience may somwhat appeare to proceede not from conceipted scrupulositie without at least some probable perswasions THE generall precept of the Apostle Walke as children of the light approuing that which is pleasing to the Lorde and haue no fellowship with vnprofitable workes of darknesse concerneth not onely corrupt manners but vnprofitable ceremonies deuised by man without warrant of the worde at least by good consequence For it is an Apostolicall canon Let all things be done vnto edification And it is a Propheticall direction To the Lawe and to the Prophetes If they speake not according to this worde it is because there is no light in them But the saide faithfull Ministers see not howe ceremonies prescribed are profitable notwitstanding their godly significations pretended For if Christ who in these last dayes speaketh euidently by his Gospell and spirit had iudged signifying ceremonies convenient vnto edification he would not haue abolished so many prescribed by Moses as being fitt for children and appointed so few and those not onely for signification but principallie to be seales of spirituall graces And therefore this addition of signifying ceremonies seemeth vnto them to eclipse the glorie of Christ his wisedome and faithfulnes in providing for the full instruction of his people contrarie to the scriptures which giue him testimonie that he is as onely so a sufficient Teacher of his Church Neither doe they see how the signifying ceremonies bee otherwise according to the worde And the rather because that other cānon of the Apostle Let all things bee done honestlie and by order so much vrged in their defence doeth onelie commaund decent disposing of ceremonies of order not of figure and not that what soeuer may seeme tending to decencie is therefore to bee thrust into the Church In consideration of which so conceiued vnprofitablenes and vnwarrantablenes the saide Ministers dare not haue fellowship with prescribed ceremonies In giuing allowaunce by vsing or subscribing Againe this fearfulnesse of prescribed ceremonies and generall subscriptiō seemeth to them to be groūded 1 vpon the second commandment 2 the second petition 3 an vse of the Lords supper aunswerable to that article of our Creede where we say I beleeue that the Church is an holy cōmunion of Sainctes For the seconde commandement forbidding vs to bowe or yeeld to any Idoll of mans invencion vnder the name of Grauen Imaege the chief Idoll as all vncleannes is forbidden vnder the name of adulterie the grossest pollucion of the fleshe doeth withall commaund all thinges in and about the seruice of God to be according to his revealed will As appeareth by the opposition or relatiue respect of these wordes Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image to these of them that loue me keepe my commaundements And further by conferring the vse of Fringes whiche the children of Israell were to make vpon the border of their garments set down in these wordes And yee shall haue the fringes that when yee looke vppon them yee may remember all the commaundementes of God and doe them And that ye seeke not after your owne heart nor after your owne eyes after which ye goe a whoring In the second petition we pray That GOD would raigne in his Church by the worde of his Kingdome whiche teacheth vs That as a worldly kingdome cannot brooke two Monarches So Christ to whom the Father hath committed all iudgement is onely Maister among his Disciples onely Prince among his people And therefore the Apostle hauing reprooued the vnprofitable traditions of men As touch not taste not handle not exhorteth the Colossians to seeke those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth at the right hande of God As if hee should saye Christ onely ruleth Therefore ye are not to obey the commaundements of men but to be ruled by him onely The vse of the Lordes Supper before mencioned Saint Paule him self maketh when he thus argueth Wheras the bread which we breake is the cōmunion of the body of Christ that is a seale of that communion which we haue with Christ and one with an other in him Therefore we must be so farr from hauing any fellowship with Idolaters that how so euer we pretend the safe keeping of our hearts for God yet we must not no not onely in bodie be present at Idolatrous seruice From all which they thinke verilie that the spirit of God it selfe maketh this argument What communion hath the light of the worde with the darknes of mans inventions What cōcorde hath Christ our Sauiour with Beliall the Antichrist of Rome And what agreement hath the Temple of God which is our selues with Idolls of humane traditiōs Wherfore come out of Babilon that is the confusion or confused worship and gouernment of Rome touch no vnclean thing But as man him selfe who is borne in sinne and conceyued in iniquitie so his own inventions which make him more sinfull can not bee sanctified but by the worde The hypothesis or ground of this conclusion is a perswasion That the ceremonies which they stumble at bee not onelie the inventions of man but parte also of the scarlet woman her fornications yea notwithstanding they were in vse before Antichrist was exalted As circumcision was parte of the ceremoniall law notwithstanding it was not of Moses but of the Fathers And therefore such ceremonies are by thē in their zeale iudged to be more fitting the whore of Babylon then beseeming the chaste spouse of Christ who should be conformable to her husbande in simplicitie and sinceritie That their dislike of prescirbed ceremonies may 〈…〉 to them grounded

as on 〈…〉 so on the iudgement of authoritie Let the reasons of remouing other ceremonies bee well considered which be these They obscured the glorie of God they were vnprofitable they blinded the people they turned to vanitie and superstition they were abused by the vnlearned and beseeme not Christes Gospell which is not a ceremoniall lawe as much as Moses was but a religion to serue God not in bondage of the figure or shadowe but in the freedome of the spirit To apply by particulars Piping and chaūting are said to haue displeased God so sore filthilie defyled his holy house and his place of prayer That for them he hath iustlie destroyed manie Nations And setting vp of candles couering of shrynes candlestickes and all monumentes of superstition yea in the glasse windowes not onelie of Churches but of houses too are saide as to be taken away so to be devised by mans fantasies not contrarie but besides scripture And therfore haue not onely no promise of reward but contrariwise great threatninges maledictions of God for that they be thinges tendinge to superstition If all these notes of condemnation may bee sett aswell on ceremonies reteyned as these remoued Then tender consciences which thinke them selues forbidden to be conformable to Idolaters aswell in cutting the haire as in vpholding altars haue at least probable cause to feare how they allow by acte or hand ceremonies reteyned To cōclude this first Reason wherin I am of necessitie longer thē I need to be in the rest I humbly referre to consideration That whereas resolved consciences are vncompellable her Maiestie of her own Princely clemencie did permitt among other Bishop Heath a popish recusant but of conscience not of a trayterous obstinacy to continew Lord Chauncellor Whether it were not cōvenient that faithfull Ministers should continewe their godlie and profitable Ministerie the omission only of ceremonies notwithstāding Prouided that such omission be with peace to others knowledge as it seemeth to be in truth to their own consciences Least otherwise the reuerend Fathers greeue the holy Spirit of GOD by whom they are sealed vnto the day of redemptiō and shew them selues to bee not brethren but Lordes ouer Gods inheritance SECONDLIE let it be supposed that their conscience all the premisses notwithstanding is erronious But let it bee withall considered that the errour is onely in ceremonies which by the nowe Archb. of Yorke since he was a L. Bishop were accounted the blemishes of our Church and in their best regard are but thinges indifferent And therfore the Church is not to be defrauded of the benefite of faithfull Ministers their sound instructions for only omitting such ceremonies and that of conscience with peace Except it be religion to tythe Mynt and Commyn and to neglect the greater things of the Lawe Saint Paul would not by his Apostolicall authoritie restreyne the libertie of disciples touching Mariage because it was an indifferent thing and he straitlie forbiddeth the weake to bee condemned for not eating of all thinges considering the Kingdome of God is not meate nor drinke and wee are to please our neighbour in that that is good to edification So that he wished them cut of who disquieted the Churche by vrginge Circumcision with Christ That they might reioyce in the fleshe of their brethren that is in their conformitie in carnall rites All this beeing true they bee no right followers of blessed Paule who thrust out of the Churche profitable teachers for only omission of indifferent ceremonies Againe if euerie particular Churche maye ordaine change and abolish rites or ceremonies It may bee adiudged no capitall offence for faithfull Ministers in their seuerall charges onely to omitte indifferent ceremonies And the lesse capitall considering vnitie in doctrine and conformitie in diuine service yea all ready obedience otherwise to the Prince State is faithfully obserued Lastly if such onely are openly to bee rebuked as opēly break the traditiōs of the Church through private iudgement and contemptuous wilfulnesse then onely omission and that of conscience with peace deserueth not so publique and extreame punishments as depriuation and suspension For the sentence of singularitie can not with wisedome and equitie bee pronounced against them who not only haue iustified their omissiō with arguments out of Gods worde which are published and thinke they vnaunswered write neuer so manie so long as Master Cartwrights second Replie remaineth vnconfuted but also haue the suffrages of reformed Churches Scottish Dutch and French round about vs which haue abandoned such ceremonies Yea by the obseruation of some Popish though politike there be fewe Protestantes in Englande besides such as depende vpon ecclesiasticall dignities which are not puritans that is such as desire to haue the Church throughly reformed As for cōtemptuous wilfulnes Their not inveying against ceremonies reteyned their brotherlie conversation with other of contrarie iudgement concerning them their patient enduring extremities for such omission their silence when they are suspended and mainteining the vnitie of our church these ceremonies and great affliction for them notwithstandinge besides the said arguments which testify their omission to be meerelie of cōscience doe sufficientlie cleare them of contempt and wilfulnes THIRDLY It may seme to them indeed no great Lawyers a quere Whether their so greeuous punishmentes be iustifyable by the statute which punisheth such as refuse to vse the forme prescribed for Prayers Sacramentes or obstinatelie vse anie other either forme or ceremonie but provideth not against discreet omissiō of the ceremonie though the forme be obserued As for enforcing general subscription all men may see and say It is besides lawe For the ende of the onely Statute for subscription is to Keepe Papistes and other heretiques out of the Ministerie As is evident by these words of the preamble That the Churches of the Queenes Maiesties dominions may bee serued with Pastours of sounde religion Bee it enacted c. Againe the Statute requireth Subscriprion to the Articles of Religion and not to all but such as onely concerne the cōfession of the true Christian faith and the doctrine of the Sacramentes Yea that the exception of some Articles might be more manifest and for no other cause is this word onely inserted Lastlie the Bb. of Canterburie would not haue made a speciall article for the approuing of the booke of common Prayer c. by subscription if such subscription were by that Statute required Nowe further where there is no commaundement there is no transgression wher no transgression no punishment But wishing the tollerating of peaceable and proffitable Ministers and not the hurt of our Church-gounernours I forbeare to shewe what danger they may incurre by lawe who punish faithfull Ministers and loyall subiectes without law for refusing to subscribe further then lawe requireth notwitstanding they willinglie offer to subscribe so farre Onely this I saye