Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	church_n	rome_n	10,301	5	7.1174	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17345	Religions peace or A reconciliation, between princes & peoples, & nations (by Leonard Busher: of the county of Gloucester, of the towne of Wotton, and a citticen, of the famous and most honorable citty London, and of the second right worshipfull Company) supplicated (vnto the hygh and mighty King of great Brittayne: etc: and to the princely and right Honorable Parliament) with all loyalty, humility and carefull fidelity	Busher, Leonard.	1614 (1614)	STC 4189; ESTC S121938	38,867	38

no man to perish but would that al men come to repentāce but not by perseqution but by the word of reconciliation which he hath committed to his ministers And as kings and Bishops cannot command the winde so they cannot command faith as the winde bloweth where it listeth so is every man that is borne of the spirit You may forcemen to Church against their consciences but they wil beleeue as they did afore when they com there for God giueth a blessing onely to his owne ordinance and abhorreth Antychrists And kings are to thinck that they are men as well as Kings ād that Christ hath ordeyned the same meanes of faith for Kings which he hath for subjects and that subjects are Christs freemen as wel as Kings subjects Kings that beleeve are Christs Servants even as subjects are Kings servants and both are bought with a price therefore both ought not to bee the servants of men in matter of faith religion but Kings shal giue a greater account at the day of judgment then their subjects And to judge mē now for religion is to judge afore the tyme ād also to sit in the judgement seate of Christ to whom onely it belongeth yet not before the day appointed how much lesse to Kings and Bishops I read that Constantyne the Emperor called the greate wrought to the Bishop of Rome that he would not force and constrayne any man to the faith but onely admonish and commit the judgment to God Christes Kingdom is not of this world therefore may it not be purchased nor defended with the weapons of this world but by his word and spirit no other weapons hath he giuen to his Church which is his spiritual kingdom Therfore Christ saith He that wil not heare the church let him be to thee as a hethen a publicane he saith not bur ban hang or inpriso him that is Antichrists ordinance And though a man be an heretick yet ought he not to be bur but to be rejected after once or twise admonition that is cast out of the Church but as in the chur of Rome people of al sorts are by perseqution forced thereinto by the Bishops and ministers therof so it is in the Church of England also which sheweth that the Bs and min of Rome and Eng are of one spirit in gathering peopel to their faith and church which is the spirit of Satan who knoweth wel that his kingdom the false Church wold greatly decay if perseqution were laid downe seing himself cannot stand before the word and spirit of God much lesse his Bs and mi therfore he wil haue them for a name and shew to vse the word of God but indeed if the false interpretation and alledging of the scriptures wil not help then saith he constrayne them by fyer and sword or els if people haue liberty of consciēce they wil trye the spirits which of them is of god as the Apostle joh teacheth and then saith he the Prince as wel as people wil try all things keep that which is good and wil also prove themselves as the Apostle Paule teacheth whether they are in the Apostoliq faith or not And as the Church of Rome provoketh the Magestrats to peesequte to death such as are excōmunicated out of her so doth the Church of England provoke the Magistrats to persequte to death such as she excomunicate And as the Bs. and min of Ro wil perswade the prince and people to heare ād read none but themselves so doe the Bs and min of Eng also But the Bs ād min of the Apostoliq Church doe perswade al men to prove trye the Spirits whether they are of God which they cannot doe except they heare and read other mens doctrines as wel as the Bs ād their min neither can they if they would so long as the Bishops have power from the King and state to silence and imprison etc al preachers ād to burne al books which teach not their doctines Your Majesty and Parliament shal vnderstand that al those that confesse freely without compulsion that Iesus is the Messiah the Lord and that he came in Flesh are to be esteemed the Children of God and true Christians seeing such are borne of God and no man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost therfore not to be persequted And as Abel killed not Cayne but was killed himself ād as Isaack ād Iacob did not persequte Ismael and Esau but was persequted of Ismael and Esau who ād Caine were figuers of al persequters so the beleeving doe not persequte the vnbeleeving nor the true chur the false but the beleeving and true chur are as they have beene most often persequted thē selves of whom Abel Isaack and Iacob were figures whose childrē are al beleevers and free mē that stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made thē free ād wil not be tangled with the yoke of bondage no not with cir-cumcision much lesse with the discipline and doctrijne of the Church of Rome whose Bs are able ministers of the fyer and sword both to Prince ād people as many Historyes doe lamentably witnes to theyr vtter infamy and overthrow Also if the beleving should persequte the vnbeleving to death who shold remayne aliue then none but the beleeveing shold liue in the world and the vnbeleeveing shold dye in theyr vnbeleeif and so perish for ever the Lord wil not that the beleeveing shold live to the destructiō of the vnbeleeveing but vnto theyr conversion edificatiō and salvation And by persequting of Prince and people to death because they wil not heare and beleeve is no gayning of soules vnto God but vnto the devill And whereas ignorant and wicked Bs. may thinck to wijn soules by killing Prince and people for religion they are deceaved greatly for therby they loose many soules viz their owne and the vnbeleeving their owne they loose because they wilfully breake the Lords Commandement that saith Thou shalt not kill meaneing such as are corporal malefactors and the others which dye in their vnbeleeif they confesse themselues are eternaly lost except they as som of their minist hold a redemption after this life And the Bs. shold know that error and heresy cānot be killed by the fyer and sword but by the word and spirit of God that is the onely weapons of Christs Bs. and Ministers and such onely Christs Ministers doe vse whose liues and conversations are so harmlesse holy ād gentle that therby and by their deaths ād sufferings they wynne many soules vnto god wherby they are knowen fro al false Bs. and ministers who like wolues and beares not like sheep and lambs make pray and devour both Prince and People that are not of their kinde if they bee able to Master them Besides may it please your Majesty and Parlia to vnderstand that the beleeveing man that hath an dnbeleeveing

for the scripture saith Faith is by heareing heareing by the word of God and not by the sword of Princes and Magistrats as they perswade and practise And therefore the Bbs of our land are truly caled Antychrists for by their beastly and bloudy perseqution as wel as by their blasphemous titles erroneous doctrines and popish goverment may they justly be termed Antichrists Eleventhly because Christ forethou● that many false Christs and false Prophets shold arise deceave many yea if it were possible the very elect And the Apostle Paul did prophecy a departure from the faith And Peter said There shold bee false teachers now among the people and Iohn said the Kings shold give their power Authority vnto the beast vntil the words of God bee fulfilled therefore if perseqution bee not laid downe and liberty of the gospel set by you may persequte the true Christians in steed of the false as your predecessors have done for they are now like as they were then the smalest number and the false Christians are now like as they were then the greatest number and perseqution is a notable marke of the false Church and her Bbs and Ministers and therefore Christ wold have vs flee from it who overcame the devil ād his Ministers by the word of God and by a good meeke and gentle life whose steps his Bishops and Ministers ought to follow Twelvthly because perseqution of such as doe preach and teach Christ is a great hinderance to the liberty of the Gospell for thereby are the Iewes Turks and Pagans occasioned and encouraged to persequte likewyse all such as preach and Teach CHRIST in their dominions For if Christian Kings and Magistrats wil not suffer Christians to preach and preach the gospel of Christ freely and peaceably in their dominions how should you expect it of the infidels vnto whome Bs and Christian Kings and Magistrats ought to give a good exāple and not an evil as to burne bannish hangh and imprison peaceable and godly Christians that are no traytors nor theeves nor fighters nor māslayers nor perswearers nor drunckards nor whoremasters nor such like And the King and Parliament may please to permit al sorts of Christians yea Iewes Turks and Pagans so long as they are peaceable ād no malefactors as is aboue mentioned which if they be found to be vnder 2. or 3. witnesses let them be punished according to Gods word also if any be found to be willing lyers false accusers false ale●●dgers and quoters of the Scriptures or other mens wrytings as som mē willingly doe let them be punished according right and Iustice it is due desert ād no perseqution but let Gods word have his full ād free passage amongh them al even to the end of their lives in al bountifulnes long sufferance and patience knowing that it is ordeyned of Gods ritch mercy to lead the infidels and such as erre vnto repentance and amendemēt out of the snare of the devil of whom they are taken and deceaved Thirteenthly because perseqution for Religion is to force the consciēce and to force and constrayne men and womens conciences to a religion against their wils is to Tyrānisse over the soule as wel as over the body and herein the Bishops comit a greater sin then if they force the bodyes of women ād maides against their wils yea herein they are more cruel and greater Tyrans then the Turks who though they force the bodyes of strangers to slavery and bondage yet they let the conscience goe free yea to Christians that are so contrary to them in Religion but these Idol Bishops wil force the consciences of Christians their owne natural contrymen even vnto spiritual slavery and bondage and herein they commit fornication both with Prince and people have made al both smale greate to receave a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads so that no man may bye or sell save he that will goe to Church and submit to the Bishops ordinances and name and marke of their beastly and bloudy perseqution through which as God they sit in and reygne over the Consciences both of Prince and people which is the spiritual seat and Temple of God bought at a deere price even with the pretious bleud of their onely spirituall Lord Iesus Messiah the true Sheepheard and Bishop of their foules And the Bishops in forceingmen and womens consciences doe there in play the Antychrist so wel as the Popes and indeed there is never a Bishop in the land but is a Pope for Pope in Lattine is Papa and Papa signifyeth Father in English al the Bishops in our Land are called reverend Fathers therefore al the Bishops in our land are caled reverend Popes so many Lord Bishops so many reverend Fathers so many reverend Popes and these are all so many Antychrists so many Idols and so many false Gods o● England how many are thy Gods whom thou doest serve For whose spirituall adoration the knee of evry man and woman must bowe or els they shal be persequted vnto whom the King ought not any longer to give his authority and pouwer least he fulfil the scripture which saith that Kings should give their power and authority vnto the beast Fourteenthly because the burning bannishing hanging and imprisoning of men and women by protestants for difference of Religion doe justifye the burning bannishing and imprisoning of men and women by the papists for difference of Religion even as the Papists doe justify the Turks and Pagans in such like cruelty and tyranny wherein ●o● is the protestants more merciful then the Papists or the Papists thē the Turks Therefore as the Papists when they complayne of the Turks and Pagans for their bloudy perseqution doe therin condemne themsewes because they are found to doe the same yea worse for it is greater Tyranny for one Christian to forse and kil one another then for Turks and pagans to kil a Christian for that is no such great wonder seeing it is a paganish part who have no better knowledge but Christians should have better knowledge and more merci then to play the Pagās against Christians So also the protestants when they complaine of the papists for their bloudy and beastly perseqution doe therein condemne themselues seing they doe the same for which they blame others and so are rebuked of the scripture which saith Therefore thou are inexcusable o thou man whosoever thou art that blamest another for in that thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest doest the same things thinkest thou this o thou man that judgest them which doe such things and thou doest the same that thou shalt escape the judment of God Fifteenthly because his Majesty and parliament would not willingly themselves be forcet against their consciences by the perseqution of the Bishop of Rome and his Princes so I beseech them according to the law