Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	church_n	part_n	visible_a	4,373	5	9.1099	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12489	A persvvasion to the English recusants, to reconcile themselues to the Church of England Written for the better satisfaction of those which be ignorant. By Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie.	Dove, John, 1560 or 61-1618.	1603 (1603)	STC 7085; ESTC S110110	29,134	40

which is the Bishop of Rome and that being seperated from the head we cannot be liuing members of that mysticall body My answere is The head of the Church is Christ 1. Cor 11. and we as members are conglutinate and ioyned vnto that head and to them which obiect that our Sauior Christ in his absence must haue his Deputie that the Deputy or Vicar generall of Christ is the Holy-Ghost which hath the gouernement of the Church Euen as Elias ascending vp let his mantle downe vpon Eliseus to be with him in his steade so our Sauiour departing 2. Reg. 2 Act. 2 Matth. 28. Act. 20. from vs sent downe the Holy-Ghost to possesse his roome and to abide with vs vntill the end of the world Take heede saieth the Apostle to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy-ghost hath made you ouer-seers so then the Holy-Ghost hath the gouernement of the Church But say they a visible body must haue a visible head proportionably to the body and therefore some one man must be ouer the Church I deny not but weake men desire a visible obiect still before their eies as the Israelites when Moses was out of their sight but a few dayes Exod. 32. would make a calfe to be their gouernour rather than they would want one to be visibly resident among them And therefore our Sauior because we should not in his absence committe the like idolatry did leaue the visible Sacrament of the Eucharist among vs saying This is my body But yet I do answer that a similitude must not as the Schoolemen say Currere quatuor pedibus agree in all things First therefore it is not simply necessarie that the visible bodie should still haue a visible head in sight as if it could not stand without such an head For God had his Church visible vpon the earth before the Papacie and before the Incarnation of Christ but Christ the head of the Church before his incarnation could not be a visible head So therefore as Christ in his Godhead alone before hee was borne was the head of his Church though inuisible likewise is he now in his Godhead and Manhoode vnited together head of the church visible although vpon the earth not to be seene Secondly the time hath beene when there was a long vacancie of the Popedome by reason of ciuill dissention yet the Church then stood without such an head Thirdly no sinfull man is able to discharge such an office as to be ouer-seer of the vniuersal church Fourthly there must be such an influence of necessitie from the head to the body as cannot possibly be from any man to the Church Fiftly the Pope neuer was reputed as head of the whole Church for the East part of the world that is the Greeke Church was euer so auerse from the Sea of Rome that it could neuer yet be brought either to obedience to the Pope or to ioyne in rites and ceremonies with his Church or to be incorporated into that body or to vse the same leiturgie and forme of prayer which that Church vseth All appellations amongst them haue bin to the Patriarch of Constantinople as to the highest Bishop Sixtly what authoritie soeuer the Pope hath had ouer the Latine Church and West part of the world it hath beene giuen him by humane constitutions onely and generall consent of Princes and States which they suffered him to enioy during their owne good liking and no longer And last of all our owne experience can enforme vs that the Catholike princes which are most of all deuoted to the Sea of Rome will be so farre subiect as they thinke fit and no further Charles the fift late Emperor and King of Spaine tooke prisoner Clement the Pope when hee resisted his proceedings in Italie and Queene Mary made her Cosin Cardinall Pole Arch-Bishop of Canterburie though the Pope withstood it neither doe the Kings of France though of the Romish religion euer suffer the Popes to beare any stroke in the election of their Bishops I wish therefore that they would be better aduised before they lay scisme vnto our charge Chap. V. Of Discord and Inconstancie THe vsuall obiections against vs were wont to be that wee haue sects and diuisions among vs. But so had they oftentimes Eckius against Pighius Thomas against Scotus so had the Apostles Peter against Paul and Paul against Barnabas some were of Paul some of Apollo and some of Cephas We contend about white and blacke round and square but in matters of religion we agree That concerning the booke of common prayer when the masse was first put downe king Henry had his English Leiturgie and that was iudged absolute without exception but when King Edward came to the Crowne that was condemned and other in the place which Peter Martyr and Bucer did approoue as very consonant to Gods word When Queene Elizabeth beganne hir raigne the former was iudged to be full of imperfections and a new was deuised and allowed by the consent of the Clergie But about the middle of her raigne wee grew weary of that booke and great meanes haue beene wrought to abandon that and establish an other which although it was not obtained yet we doe at the least at euery change of Prince change our booke of common prayers we be so wanton that we know not what we would haue I answer they haue done the like they cannot denie it for proofe whereof I referre them to the preface which is set before their owne Breuiary wherein it is specified how many times their owne Breuiary hath beene altered It is no discredit either to them or vs to alter for the better and to correct that which we finde amisse All faults are not espied at once neither is all truth reuealed at once But it is damnable to perseuere and continue in an error after it is found out and not to imbrace a truth after it is reuealed The Church had a time of growing three hundred yeares after Christ being then watered and made fruitefull by the bloud of Martyrs then the religion of Rome was found according to that which Saint Paul doth testifie in his Epistle to the Romanes the Bishops thereof Rom. 1. continued zealous and were commonly martired The Church had a time of florishing three hundred yeares which beganne when Constantine the great granted peace vnto the gospel and persecution ceased so long found doctrine was preached But the Church afterward beganne to decay and so went backeward vntill Gregory the great in whose time corruption began to creepe in and so ranne ouer the whole body of the Church and euery christian Kingdome which were members of that body so that the whole visible Catholike Church through the world was mightily deformed Then Luther in his time beganne a reformation againe though he reformed not the whole yet he reformed some partes like a Phygtion which finding a mans body full of sores healeth some members although he be not able

what doctrine will they bee afraide to publish which are thus perswaded of themselues Nay who fals so soone as they which thinke their footing to be so fast that they cannot fall Therefore the Apostle giueth this aduice Qui videtur sibi stare videat ne cadat He that thinketh that he standeth let him take heede 1. Cor. 10. lest he fall The sixt is singularitie They will holde their opinions because they will discent from vs as if it were impossible that they and we should agree together in one truth They thinke themselues to be Saint Iohn and vs to bee Cerinthus as if that Bath Euseb hist li. 3. ca. 23. Iohn 4. could not be wholesome where Cerinthus doth wash himselfe themselues to be Iewes and vs to be Samaritans as if it were vnlawfull for them to drinke water out of our bucket which we doe draw as if they would not haue any place in the Kingdome of heauen but relinquish all their right and inheritance there if they did thinke we should come thither Euen as some in our Church although otherwise graue and learned yet refuse some good and wholesome lawes and orders because they were as they thinke deuised by the Church of Rome It is not a sufficient Argument that because we hold it therefore the doctrine should be hereticall as it is no good consequent that because they hold it it should be sound and orthodoxall So then what is their proofe but a womans reason it is so because it is so I will haue it so because I thinke so Non amo te Voluci non possum dicere quare Hoc tantum possum dicere non amo te The seuenth is inordinate affection and loue of themselues for some will make their conscience incline to their owne wil and affections and not frame their desires according to conscience For example they thinke that religion soundest which doeth most of all serue their turne as the King Achab iudged those Prophets 1. Reg. 22 to be best which preached pleasing thing but concerning Micheas which prophecied other things then the King would haue him to prophecie it was said Put this man in prison feede him with the bread of affliction and water of affliction So because of their corrupt and fleshly nature they doe incline to libertie they thinke that religion most probable which doeth fauour their affections most that is which holdeth simple fornication to be no sinne that offences may be redeemed by monie that ordinarie faults which they commit are not peccata but peccadilia not sinnes but trifles which are easily pardoned and dispensed withall The last is pusillanimitie or weakenesse of minde when they feare that which in sincere iudgement they ought not to feare as namely the dislike of their friendes the rebuke of their enemies the voyce of the people the good or bad report of other men who will obiect apostasie against them So Saint Peter though he knew Christ yet said he knew not the man for feare of rebuke Matt. 26. And Nicodemus although conuerted to be a Christian yet kept his place and profession among the Pharises still least it should be said vnto him as afterward it was in the Gospel Art Iohn 7. Iohn 11. thou also of Galile Some relie vpō the opinion of great Doctors whose iudgement they would in modestie preferre before their owne and in respect of them somewhat distrust themselues though they see euident demonstrations to perswade them otherwise As the Iewes would not beleeue in Christ for feare of the Pharises although they saw a manifest signe Lazarus raised from dead They feare least it should be vpbraided vnto them as it was in the Gospel Doe any of the Rulers beleeue in him but onely this people which know not the Law and are accursed As Cardinall Pole in his death-bed said the protestants are the sounder men I would be a protestant were it not for the Church of Rome whereas they should not so much respect the opinion of this Doctour or that Rabbi when they see the plaine and open way lie before them but preferre a manifest trueth aboue all Therefore it behooueth our Countreymen to informe their consciences better and not to lay it vpon their conscience that they liue disorderly and disobedient to Christian lawes CHAP. III. Of Heresie THey lay heresie to our charge as if so be that we were like Vide Gregor Mart in tract de Scism to Seruerus Cerinthus Arrius If we be heretiks they do well to refraine our companie But that we may the better proceed in this argument for the purgation of our selues let vs first define what heresie is Secondly let vs inquire by what Court or Consistory we are condemned of heresie Thirdly let vs set downe the fundamentall points of our Doctrine that it may appeare whether we were iustly condemned or no Which being done we shall not onely cleare our selues from iust suspition of heresie but also demonstrate how the greatest Papists in the world for learning and iudgement do imbrace the same and agree in them with vs not as if we did comforme our selues vnto them because wee holde the same conclusions which we haue alwayes held but they seeing their owne errours laide open before them and being in their owne consciences conicted by a manifest trueth do dayly so farre as they dare and may without the generall notice of the world come neerer vnto vs as if our doctrine in their knowledge were the soundest And therefore why should not the inferiour sorte of Catholikes which are but their disciples doe the like The Church of Rome being taxed by Luther for their discipline as loose and their doctrine as erroneous called the Councell of Trent to deuise a reformation seeing that in the eyes of the world they were not slandered In that counsel they set foorth such wholesome Canons concerning Discipline as were fit for a reformed Church but they were not so carefull of their points of Doctrine because they saw the world could sooner looke into their disorders then iudge of their doctrine and so did as it were yeeld Luthers complaint in parte to be iust As for the doctrine although they hold in termes the same which they did before because Princes and estates should not thinke they had so long deceiued the world and continued in error and not espied the same vntill by Luther they had bin discouered and as it were by him awaked like men which were in a dreame so many yeeres yet they set downe their conclusions so cunningly as if they would beare men in hand that they were in some sort but mistaken inclined of themselues somewhat vnto that which Luther perswaded Whereupon some protestants suspected that they had an intent in time to become Lutherans onely it should come of themselues and not by force of Luthers arguments vntill Andradius a man more audacious then the rest to remoue that hope of theirs when he thought the