Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	church_n	receive_v	2,532	5	5.3979	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18100	The ansvvere of Master Isaac Casaubon to the epistle of the most reuerend Cardinall Peron. Translated out of Latin into English. May 18. 1612; Ad epistolam illustr. et reverendiss. Cardinalis Perronii, responsio. English	Casaubon, Isaac, 1559-1614.	1612 (1612)	STC 4741; ESTC S107683	37,090	54

such chiefe points as are necessarie to saluation For there is but one sauing doctrine there is but one way to heauen They are vnited in coniunction of mindes in true charitie and the duties of charitie especially of mutuall prayers Lastly they are vnited in the communion of one hope and expectation of promised inheritance knowing that before the foundations of the world they were predestinate I speake of the elect to be fellow heires and of the same bodie and partakers of the promise of God in Christ through the Gospell as saith the diuine Apostle Yet his Maiestie addes further that the same Church notwithstanding if any member thereof depart from the rule of faith will more esteeme of the loue of truth then the loue of vnitie He knowes that the supreme lawe in the house of God is the sinceritie of celestiall doctrine which if any man forsake he forsakes Christ which is Truth it selfe hee forsakes the Church which is the pillar and establishment of truth and by this meanes ceaseth to appertaine vnto the body of Christ With such Apostates a true Catholike neither will nor can communicate for what concent betwixt Christ and Belial Wherefore the Church will flie from communion with these and wil say with Greg Nazianzen that disagreement for godlinesse is better then ill affected concord Neither will he doubt if need be to say with the same blessed father that there is a holy contention Now that such a necessarie separation should sometimes be in the Church both wee are taught in other places of holie Scripture and that admonition also of the holie Ghost not without cause giuen to the Church doth openly declare saying Goe out of Babylon my people lest you communicate with her sinnes What that Babylon is whereout the people of God are commanded to depart the King disputes not in this place nor affirmes hee any thing concerning it yet thus much the matter it selfe doth plainly shew that whether some priuate Church be vnderstood in that place by the name of Babylon or the greater part of the whole it was before this a true Church with which the religious might religiously communicate but after it was more depraued the religious are commanded to goe out and to breake off communion Whereby it may be easilie vnderstood that not all communion with those that be called Christians is to bee desired of the faithfull but that only which may stand with the integritie of doctrine reuealed from heauen Now to come neerer to the purpose his Maiestie denies those places of S. Augustine to belong at all to him For he affirmes that all those testimonies doe euince this only that there remaines no token of saluation for them which depart from the faith of the Catholike Church or from communion with the same Church Which thing as I said before the King willingly grants But here his Maiestie desires of you most illustrious Cardinall that you would call to minde and perpend what great difference there is betwixt the times of S. Augustine and these of ours How much the Church now called Catholike differs from the ancient how the face of the Church is changed and the outward forme to say nothing of the inward For then the Church Catholike was like a citie seated vpon an hill which as Christ saith cannot be hid knowne to all conspicuous and certaine whereof no sound minde could make question Which was not as the foolish Donatists prated lying I know not where in the South driuen into some corner of the world but diffused farre and wide thorow the whole earth flourishing vnder the Emperours whose dominion extended from the East to the West and from North to South You might see the Bishops of the East and West daily communicating and when need required assisting one another For that which is written in the Constitutions of Clement that the Catholike Church is the charge of all the Bishops and by that meanes that euery one is an Oecumenicall Bishop we wonder now when we reade it neither can wee beleeue it which then daily practise did shew to be most true and may easily be demonstrated out of historie by infinit examples There were then also in frequent vse literae formate that is demissatie or testimoniall letters by commerce whereof and as it were by tokens communion was held amongst the members of the Church although farre remoued by distance of place Furthermore when it stood in neede they had Councels truly Occumenicall not as since we haue seene Occumenicall in name only but indeed assembled out of some Prouinces of Europe And in those ancient times this was the fastest bond whereby all the members of the Catholike Church were knit together in the ioynture of one bodie which bodie was for that cause very eminent conspicuous and in the faire view of all which no man could chuse but know There was one faith one state one body Catholike frequent mutuall visitation wonderfull consent of all the members a wonderfull sympathie Was any man lapsed by heresie or schisme from the communion of any one Church I speake not of any one of the chiefe which were the seates of the foure Patriarchs but of any one much smaller that man as soone as it was knowne was held to be excluded from the communion of the whole Catholike Church For whereas wee meete with some examples obserued to the contrarie that was not right but vsurpation Was any man bold to corrupt the truth a little by being of another opinion it was easie euen for a child to deprehend him Wherefore such a steale-truth being once discouered all the shepheards of the whole world if need was were raised and were neuer quiet vntill they had rooted out this euill and prouided for the securitie of Christs sheepe By these signes and markes the Church at that time was conspicuous but this happinesse continued not many ages For after that the Empire was ouerturned and the forme of the Common-wealth altered there sprung vp many new states differing as well in manners and language as in ordinances and lawes Then vpon the distraction of the Empire followed the distraction of the Catholike Church and by little and little all those things ceased which had been before of singular vse for the preseruation of vnion and communion in the outward Catholike bodie of the Church From that time the Catholike Church hath not ceased to be for it shall continue euer neither shall the gates of hell at any time preuaile against it seeing it is founded vpon Christ the true rock and vpon the faith of Peter and the rest of the Apostles but it began to be lesse manifest being diuided into many parts which as touching externall communion were quite separated from one another Then which is chiefly to be lamented it came to passe by this dissipation that there was lesse strength in the parts then before in the whole bodie to resist the enemie of mankind who is

illustrious and most reuerend Lord I haue learned as I thinke by vse and experience that there is no euill so great out of which or by occasion whereof some good may not arise And as it is an vsuall speech that honey breedeth gall so it may bee said not vnfitly that somtimes out of pure gall commeth pure honey Not to seeke any further proofe of this the lewd book of that debosht cauiller which gaue me first occasion by his excellent Maiesties commaund of writing to your illustrious Honour it was pure gall and that most virulent But both your letters which vpon that occasion you sent me seasoned with singular courtesie humanitie and prudence witnessing the faire ingenuitie of the author were sweeter to me then any honey Wherefore I was not afraid to shew them vnto his Maiestie and his Maiestie although he approued not of all that was in them for that could not be yet hee refused not but was willing to reade them both It delighted him very much that yet he knew one Diuine of your side a man of chiefe place of honorable estimation and excellent learning which handling the controuersies of these times appeared to be of a moderate and quiet disposition For with what spirit the most are led which now adaies set out bookes of this argument there needs no more sufficient declaration then out of those writers which hitherto haue oppugned his Maiesties Apologie All of them if you except one or two filling their vnhappie leaues with lies reproches and foule language But especially the words in your last letters did delight his Maiestie whose minde is enflamed with the zeale of sincere pietie whereby you seemed to put him in hope that this friendly communication concerning matters of religion was like not to prooue fruitlesse Which thing as it pleased the King marueilously who is readie vpon this condition to vndergoe any paines so if there remaine no hope hereof neither is there any iust cause why his Maiestie or your Honour should trouble your selues Surely I hope if your Worthinesse will take serious care of it that with the helpeof almightie God you may effect by the authoritie which you haue amongst your owne and the report of learning and wit amongst all that by these mutual writings some good profit may redownd to the Church of Iesus Christ As for his most excellent Maiestie of Great Britaine in whose Court I haue now liued a whole veere and more I dare promise you and with all manner of asseueration confirme that he is so affected and that the course of his whole life hath bin so ordered that all men may easily vnderstand there is nothing dearer to him then the carefull endeuour for religion Neither priuate businesse nor the publike cares of his kingdome doe vsually so affect his Maiestie as a kinde of vnmeasurable desire by all meanes to promote religion and which consideration most beseemes so great a King an exceeding affection by all right and honest meanes to procure peace amongst the dissenting members of the Church And this care so fitting a Christian Prince the most pious King hath not confined within the bounds of his owne kingdome though very large but remembring that he is stiled the Defendour of the faith he hath thought good not out of any curiositie but a vehemencie of zeale to extend it beyond the limites of his owne little world that his Maiesties wisedome and authoritie might be beneficiall also to the Churches of other Countries if occasion were offered and that daily it might be more apparant in the sight of God and men that his chiefe care is the preseruation of Christian religion Of late therefore and about the time when I shewed you his last letters his Maiestie gaue this great experiment of this his deuout minde which as it is most worthilie approued and commended here of all good and godly men so I hope most illustrious Cardinall that the knowledge of it will be delightfull to you When the right Honourable and most reuerend Prelate the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace by letters certified his Maiestie that there came vnto his hands a booke brought out of some part of Germanie or the Low Countries containing doctrine concerning the nature of God which was new peruerse and in some points repugnant to the faith of the Catholike Church and withall desired his Maiestie that for the repressing of this mischiefe which was lately sprung vp hee would shew foorth the zeale of the Defendour of the faith and intercede with the Magistrates of that place where the author liued desiring of them not to suffer so prodigious doctrine to bee brought into their Churches and Vniuersities and that the inuentor of this prophane noueltie might not passe vnpunished the King as he came out of coach after a tedious hunting as soone as hee had receiued the letters and the booke noted and markt in sundrie places by that most vigilant Prelate without any delay thought it a businesse worthie to be taken notice of And although at that time his bodie was faint with exercise and fasting yet what he had begun he went through at once as it were with one continuance and heate of endeuour neither could hee bee entreated by the Nobilitie which stood about him to haue any respect of himselfe vntill after a good long consideration of the whole matter with the right reuerend Bishop of Lichfield and others of the Clergie and a perfect vnderstanding thereof hee most accuratly discharged as much as appertained to him and as piety commanded The booke was condemned and it was determined that all the copies of it should be burnt in London and in both the Vniuersities Which afterwards was performed Letters were immediatly dispatched the King himself dictating vnto his Maiesties Legier there lying to testifie what was the iudgement of the King and the Church of England concerning this new doctrine Withall order was giuen to acquaint the Magistrates with the matter Let them looke to it to whom the care of remouing that euill doth belong what account of their delay they can make vnto the immortall God if which wee hope cannot come to passe neither of their owne accord nor after so notable example they vndergoe the patronage of the truth with lesse zeale and endeuour then they ought His Maiestie at the first receiuing of the newes was so mooued that hee thought hee should commit a grieuous offence if hee gaue any indulgence to his bodie before he had fully performed this office of pietie I doubt not most illustrious Cardinall but you will greatly approue of and praise this deed I haue made relation to you of what was done not to the intent I might commend his Maiestie vnto you but to let you vnderstand how fast he holdeth the ancient faith and how stout and earnest a Defendour he is of the opinions of the true Catholike Church whom notwithstanding most of your Catholikes will not haue to bee accounted and called a