Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	aaron_n	call_v	lawful_a	51	3	9.1638	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17036	An ansvvere to Master Cartvvright his letter for ioyning with the English Churches: whereunto the true copie of his sayde letter is annexed.	Browne, Robert, ca. 1550-1633.; Cartwright, Thomas, 1535-1603.; Harrison, Robert, d. 1585?, attributed name.	1585 (1585)	STC 3909; ESTC S109433	77,571	102

baptised of him yea among the Pharisces there were those that touching the righteousnesse which is in the lawe were vnrebukeable They were as it appeareth most of them Leuites openly called and authorised to preach by the Elders aud people in the Synagognes And surely that it is but a vaine exception which Master Cartwright maketh of the high Priest That he was made a yeerely officer and came in by Simonie into his office For Eleazar was made high priest while Aaron the high Priest yet liued And Zadok was made high Priest and Abiathar and his sonnes put from the priesthoode when as yet the couenant of the priesthoode pertained by the lawe vnto Abiathar and his house But necessities and iust occasions did oftentimes make change of the ceremoniall lawes and yet no corruption nor abuse came thereby Wherefore for aunswere I say that the priesthoode was not made a yeerely office but that by course euery yeere two priestes did execute the office And this seemed to be tollerable by the Lawe seeing that if one priest shoulde be sicke or letted by some greater occafions the other might be in his steade As wee shewed before that Eeleazar was chosen high Priest while Aaron yet liued and Zadok in Abiathars steade and yet were there not two high Priestes in the office at once but onely one at once was to execute the office Also there seemed to be much doubt and controuersie to which of the p●iestes the priesthoode did belong as also we may reade in Iosephus And therefore two chiefely standing for it there were two chosen to it And because the lawe of God did not suffer two at once to bee in the office they did succeede one another in the execution of the office Againe seeing they were of the sonnes of Aaron and called after the order of Aaron no doubt their calling was lawfull and good Otherwise if any at that time had bene lawfull high Priestes and yet not lawfully called as was Aaron then the Apostle woulde not haue set downe this for a generall trueth That no man taketh this honour vnto him selfe but he that is called of God as was Aaron Neither let him here shift off our answere by his fonde distinction of the essence of a priest and of a lawfull priest which before is refuted As for Symonie wherewith he chargeth the high Priestes hee can not prooue it against them For if the Romanes ouerruling them did grieuously exact their tributes and paiments both of Christ himselfe as we may reade in Matth and of the high priestes it was no more Symonie in the priestes then it was in Christ to pay them their exactions For the priesthoode was their right seeing it pertained vnto them being the sonnes of Aaron yet can not Master Cartwright prooue that they payed any monie when they tooke their right or if they did that they thereby bought their right and not rather payed an exaction which the Romanes demanded when they tooke their right But suppose that secretly they gaue bribes to the Romanes delt by Symonie yet that being hidden and not manifest to the people they were to be taken of men as lawfully called to that office For if the Lawe and common tribute exacted monie of them they might pay it as well as Christ. If the officers did exact any besides lawe they did it secretely lest they them selues should be condemned by lawe and so it is manifest that no symonie could be laid to their charge And therefore no maruaile though Christ bad the man shewe him selfe to the high Priest For before the high priestes became open persecuters there was a lawfull communion to be had with them But this communion was afterward broken and made vnlawfull through their open wickednesse Also it is false which Master Cartwright saith that Christ did reuerence the high Priest and gaue him accountes of his doctrine For he gaue him no accountes and answered him so roundly that one of the officers whiche stoode by smote him with a rodde Also his aunswere is false cōcerning that place in Hoshea that the Lord would refuse the priestes for being any more his priestes seeing they were without knowledge of which wordes he sayeth that the prophet rather giueth a rule to be followed in their election or deposition then howe farre they may be vsed Nay the Prophet there speaketh nothing of electing them or deposing them by men but rather of the plague or destruction that shoulde come vpon them yea hee sheweth that through the ignorance of the priestes all wickednesse and idolatrie reigned and therefore he saith that there shal be like people like Priest meaning that they shall haue a like destruction Now Master Cartwright dare not say that all abominable wickednes and Idolatrie reigning and the priests them selues being wicked idolaters I say he dare not affirme that they helde the couenant or were the people or church of God For before he hath said the contrary And howe then dare he say that such priestes were yet priestes vnto God and were not deposed from their priesthoode when as their owne wickednes and idolatrie did depose them For that whole chapter of Hoshea is altogether against their wickednesse and idolatrie And let M. C. knowe that our open grosse sinnes abuses being not curable by the discipline of the Church are as euill as Idolatrie as Samuel the Prophet doeth witnes saying that rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and transgression he meaneth trāsgression which is stoode in and wil not be mended is wickednes idolatry But this matter is made manifest before Now followeth the last part of his letter the last matter in controuersie as whether by communicating with a reading minister we do communicate with their impietie establish their ministerie M. C. herein doth more shamefully erre then if he should with the bishops altogether iustifie such reading ministers For he might better say they were lawfull ministers and that their ministerie were lawfull then that he should confesse them to be vnlawfull ministers yet iustifie that we may receiue them as hauing the essence and substance of ministers and partake in their wicked ministerie without impietie or establishing their But he may playnly see except his eies of vnderstanding be vtterly darkened that if any do vsurpe as traitors against her maiesty then they also that come vnder their vsurped rule and gouernment being once free from it are also trayters together with them So likewise those men vsurping a ministery which Christ neuer gaue them neyther sanctified to be in his Church both they doe wickedly and they also that wil come vnder theyr ministery doe establish theyr wicked ministery and partake with them in theyr impiety If a man of the winde sayth the prophet and false fellowe doe he saying I will prophecie vnto you of wine and of strong drinke he shall euen be the prophet of this people Yea why not

shall he be of God If he say a thing may be lawfull before men which before GOD is not so and therefore that men maye take it as lawfull before God Let hym remember himselfe that hee speaketh of vnlawfull ministers euen before men yea whome hee himselfe knoweth and calleth vnlawfull So that beeyng vnlawfull ministers both before men and before God how shall they be ministers of god Wherefore they are of the Deuill and plantes which the heauenly Father hath not planted and therefore shall hee rooted vp and christ sheweth the way to roote them vp namely that we let them alone blinde guides leaders of the blinde and haue nothing to doe with their guyding and ministerie For christ did gather his disciples aparte from the Pharisees disciples so that the Pharisees were to haue no charge nor ouersight on christes disciples This appeareth in v●ry many places of the Euangelists Againe he distingui●eth that he is a minister and leaueth out his wordes of lawfull and vnlawfull of god and not of god So he woulde fray vs with the bare worde minister If they bee Satans ministers shoulde we receiue them because they beare the name of ministers There are prophets also which come to vs in sheepes clothing shoulde we receiue them being false prophets because they beare the name of prophets Therefore these are vyle and vngodly mockeries wherewith Master Cartwright woulde delude vs Further he distinguisheth that to the dumbe ministers them selues their ministery is a matter of destruction but to the church it is he can not tell what good thing or gratious benefite from Christ. Wee shewed before that they doe good to others like those foolish shepherdes named in Zechary whom God did raise vp in iudgement to sell and to slay the sheepe Also like Corah and his companie by whome so many thousandes perished Or like the priestes of Baal or the Shepheardes spoken of in Ezekiel which did eate the fat and clothe them selues with the wooll and slewe them that were fedde but fed not the sheepe the weake they strengthened not the sicke they healed not neither bound vp the broken nor brought again that which was driuen away neither sought vp that which was lost but with crueltie and violence doe they rule them as these doe by their cannon power and spirituall courtes For they the Byshoppes and their officers are those that thrust with side and with shoulder and push with their hornes all the weake of the flocke till they vtterly scatter them abroade It is a wonder that any man should speake of any good the blind ministers doe For through their woefull ministerie and through that lamentable bondage of popish discipline we may well say with Ieremie that wickednesse is gone foorth into all the lande They strengthen also the handes of the wicked that none can returne from his wickednesse They are all vnto me saith the Lorde as Sodome and the inhabitantes thereof as Gomorah But let vs see what are those things of Christ which he saith the dumbe ministers can giue vs. Forsooth the Sacraments and the reading of common seruice Indeede they haue gotten the censers of Corah and his companie and they are made priestes of such places and churches as the Lorde as yet doeth not choose to put his name there Wherefore as as we shewed before both their censings and their offrings that is their prayers and sacraments are reiected of the Lord as execrable things They are those strangers named in Ezekiel and in Nombers which are not of the Leuites nor of the seede of Aaron but doe pollute the Lordes house and can not offer the sweete incense and pure offerings which Malachie speaketh of Their Sacraments are stollen and counterfet badges and howe then shoulde we receiue them as markes of the true church of God They offer the incense of Nadab and Abihu For their stinted forme of seruice deuised by the Byshoppes and translated from the Massebooke can neuer be prooued to be incense made by fire from the Altar of the Lorde But yet Master Cartwright will iustifie their Sacraments and reading of seruice Let vs therefore see to his proofes One proofe is this the Scribes and Pharises might be heard preaching true doctrine therfore the dumbe ministers may be heard reading seruice a goodly proofe For it was lawfull for the Pharisees to bee preachers of the trueth and it was a parte of their office and ministerie but it is not lawfull to be a blinde reading minister neither is it any parte of the ministerie to reade ouer such a stinted forme of seruice Wherefore though I may heare and like of that which is truely preached yet doeth it not followe that I shoulde heare like of or ioyne with that which is vngodly and blasphemously spoken vttered or done Againe he abuseth that place in Matthew saying that it was cōmanded by Christ to heare the Scribes There is no cōmandement giuen to heare but to do as they knewe the Pharises taught truely And though by occasion they might heare them teaching trueth yet were they separate as was shewed before from being their disciples they were not vnder their charge and ministerie as those are nowe vnder the dumbe ministers charge whome Master Cartwright doeth iustifie in hearing them and receiuing the Sacraments of them Hee can not shewe that the Pharises were no Leuites nor Priestes and yet offered the sacrifices as the Priestes And yet these doe minister the Sacrament●● and will be Priestes ouer the people beyng neither to bee counted brethren nor Christyans And though the Pharises or Scribes had so farre vsurped yet shoulde not the people haue partaken with them in the sacrifices no more ought the people at this day to partake in the Sacraments with such blinde ministers But why doth not Master Cartwright perceiue that his owne proofe is against him selfe For if the Scribes and Pharises were to be heard because they preached trueth then are these dumbe ministers not to bee hearde because they are no preachers But this proofe fayling Master Cartwright prepareth another namely this The Scribes and Pharisees were as vnfit and as vnlawfull ministers as our reading ministers and yet might be heard therefore our reading minysters may bee heard Howe vnfitte ministers the Pharisees were it is after examined We saye not but that the dumbe ministers may be heard For if standing on the gallouse to be executed they say they woulde come downe I knowe we maye heare them But the question whether we may be vnder their charge and guiding and so daily and vsually heare them as our spirituall guides pastours watchmen for our soules and ministers in the church This Master Cartwright can not prooue and therefore his proofe serueth for another matter quite besides the question Yea if he looke well this proofe serueth against him For the disciples of Christ were not to heare the Pharisees as being their

assumption is euidēt in that by beleeuing that christ it our righteousnes we are made members of his body thereby at liuely stones laide vpon him as vpon a foundation we growe into one spiritual house with him now that they haue the like precious faith with vs is conuinced not onely by their owne professiō but also by the testimonie of the spirit of God who by manifold graces powred vpon thē euen vnto an apparant sanctification of nombers of thē do beare them witnes that they be members of the body of christ who as the head hath partaked vnto them his holy spirite th●y that haue perfourmed vnto them the speciall couenant which the Lorde hath made with his churches of powring his spirit vpō thē putting his words in their mouthes are the churches of God but such are the assemblies in England as touching the spirit of God it hath bin said before whereupon also it followeth that he hath likewise put his word in their mouthes considering that the spirit of God is not giuē but by the word seing that the Lord in mercy hath set vp diuers burning lamps in those assemblies whereby light is conueyed more or lesse into all the parts almost of that land it seemeth that the church of England should receiue iniury if it should not be accounted among the golden candlesticks which seeme to keepe out darknes might from the Lords sanctuary vntill such time as the day starre spring Lucifer do rise in our hearts If you say all do not beleeue the gospel truely which professe it the same exceptiō lyeth against all other churches how reformed soeuer if that there be fewer faithfull in our churches then in others the trueth of the chnrch standeth not in the nomber for if there were but in euery church one truely and vndissemblingly faithfull al the rest holding the faith of our Lord Iesus christ in wordes onely yet shoulde all those churches be vnto vs the churches of God and if you say the assemblyes as it were all the branches or armes of the candlesticke haue not lightes set vpon them the greater nomber of them being dumped with dumbe ministerie notwithstanding by the way you confesse those assemblyes vpon whome the Lorde hath set the lampe of a preaching ministery are the churches of God whiche seemeth to cast downe that hill which standeth in the waye against our reioysing wherebye you can not afoorde vs the Name of gods churches because we haue not the discipline by him appointed nowe for the other whether they haue some glimpse of knowledge by the dumbe ministerie or no may afterwardes in another place be considered for the present I answere that euen in those congregatiōs forasmuch as they both haue and might haue by some former ministrie or means which the Lord hath vsed towards thē receiued faith standing therby in our sauiour christ as in the shaft of a candlesticke they cease not to be a branch in the Lords candlesticke and being members of the same body they may well receiue some supply of their want from the light that shineth in the next branch vnto them for if euery assembly being without a lampe of the ministry shuld by by be holden to be broken from the shaft of the church candlesticke then at euery vacation of the ministry and whensoeuer by death the Lorde shoulde put out one of his lightes it shoulde followe that that assembly by the fall of their minister into the graue shoulde from the hyest heauen fall into the graue of hell but you will say peradventure that an assembly that hath a dumbe minister is in worse case then that which hath none at all if that be graunted yet followeth it not therefore that the assembly which yesterday being without a dūbe minister was the church of God shoulde to day by hauing such a one set ouer them be the Synagogue of Satan and here me thinkes whilest you go about to make nothing of the dumbe ministrie you ascribe more force to it then it hath for you make him not so much as a guide or an head of the church in that those which before in all equall iudgement were to be deemed members of Christ by hearing them shoulde suddenly become the members of antichrist I do not therefore yeeld vnto you in that you saye they are the chiefe alwayes in the synagogues our Sauiour Christ in whome those companies do beleeue being the chiefe with whome through faith they growe to be one body which rather then by hearing the dumbe minister to bee one with him say therefore that it is a fault in them to heare such a minister thrust vpon them yet that it is an apostacie from God and an vtter falling away from the Gospell I see not with what great apparance of trueth it can be spoken Moyses when diuers of the people claue vnto Korah Datham and Abiram forsaking willingly the lawfull and ordinary ministry of the Aronites did not therefore cast them forth from the Lordes hoste and should the churches of God for hearing a dumbe minister which is thrust vpon them forthwith be reputed for runnagates from the Lorde Againe the Lorde is in couenaunt with that people to whome he gieueth the seales of his couenant this he doth to our assemblies in England therefore they are the Lordes confederates Yf you say that the seales set to by the dumb ministery are no seales which afterwarde commeth to be examined yet you thereby confesse that those which are ministred by sufficient ministers are the true and vncounterfaite sacramentes of the church whereby it falleth againe that you seeme to hold that the churches in England are not true churches of Christ because they haue not his commaunded discipline Hereunto may be added the iudgment of all the churches of Christ in Europe all which gieue the right hande of societie in the house of God vnto the assemblies which are in England Which argument of the churches authoritie albeit it be not so strong as it will enforce yet ought it to staye all sodayne and hasty iudgments vnto the contrary and so long to cause silence vntill the cause be rightly on both sides debated and the contrary of that which the churches holde doe through the lightnesse sonne of the trueth thereof breake foorth and if it be meete to proceede softly and as it were with a leaden foote to the excommunication of one onely member of the Church of God there ought verily to haue bin great consultation taken when the Churches of two whole Ilandes shoulde haue bene cast out especially when they be holden in by voyces not of diuers persons but of all the churches to whome the knowledge of their estate hath come And if there were but one man worthie to be excommunicate yet if the greater parte of your assembly woulde not yeelde consente thereunto I holde it that the order of the discipline requireth that the rest are to beare the person whome they can