Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	church_n	faith_n	profess_v	3,565	5	8.8932	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10111	An exposition, and observations upon Saint Paul to the Galathians togither with incident quæstions debated, and motiues remoued, by Iohn Prime.	Prime, John, 1550-1596.	1587 (1587)	STC 20369; ESTC S101192	171,068	326

this calling is either ordinary and appointed orderly by imposition of handes according to the right touch of conscience in the called and the good choise of the caller or els calling is extraordinarie whensoeuer and of whomsoeuer it pleaseth God immediatly by himselfe to call vnto and enable for the worke of his spirituall haruest Such a calling was Pauls by a voice from heauen at noone whereof himselfe speaketh * Acts. 26.9 I was not disobedient to the heauenly vision and voice Thus was he ordained to his office and as he here addeth neither by men called neither by men instituted but extraordinarily in heauenly thinges a * Numb 10.2 consecrated trumpet put * Rom. 1.1 a-part to preach the Gospel euen from heauen and by God himselfe Called not of men nor by man but by Iesus Christ and God the Father which raised him from the dead Both natures in our Sauiour By the way you will obiect that if Paul were called by Christ and therefore not by man then belike Christ was not man I answere these wordes deny not our sauiours humanity though they rather proue his Deity and Godhead For if ye marke in the same tenor of speech they couple him equally with God and expressely they term God his Father and such as is the Father such in substance is the Son And because the Father is God therefore by consequent necessarily ensuing the Son also is very God And yet marke withall his Father here is said to raise him from the dead Which must needs be spoken of Christs humanity For the Deity neither dieth nor reuiueth neither falleth nor riseth nor is raysed againe Wherefore Paul was called by him that is not denied to be man but by the * 1 Tim. 2.5 man Christ who was both very God and perfect man and so a fit mediator betweene God and man And nowe being thus called in the second third fourth and fifth verses he sendeth greeting wherein would be considered 1. The sender 2. The persons to whom he writeth 3. His entry with an holy salutation 1 He that sendeth chiefly is Paul of whom in part hath beene and in part hereafter shal be declared then they with Paul who sent their greeting are annexed Al the brethren who were with Paul My note is that whereas flesh and blood is of a corrupt nature ful of wrath pride and swelling whereas euery man deemeth his lead to be siluer his glasse diamond whereas some can brooke no superiour some no equal Paul was altogether of a contrary minde of an humble meeke and lowly spirit And albeit his giftes were moe than were al the giftes of many his labours incomparable and his calling Apostolical yet hee calleth euery of them that were with him brethren and conioyneth them with himselfe in his owne Epistle A charitable consent in Christians most forceable to persuade in cases of Christianitie And this was then and wil be euer as it were a twisted cord of greatest strēgth the better able to draw men to christ when Christians drawe all one way and driue against sinne and lift all with one shoulder to further the trueth and altogether liue in charitable manner like brethren one with an other Paul and all the brethren He excepteth none that includeth all and he accepteth of all that excludeth none The persons to whom the Epistle is directed 2 To the Churches of Galatia The * The name of the Church taken diuersly name of the church is diuersly takē either for the whole Church catholicke in times persons and places or for the parces of the whole professing in earth the Catholicke faith And therein as euery part of the sea is called the sea as the English the Spanish and the French Sea is termed the Sea euen so euerie part of the whole Church professing the trueth may and doth well receaue the name of the Church as the Church of England is the Church and the Church of Scotland the Church c. And because in Galatia their congregations were copious they are plurallie termed the Churches Whole churches may be seduced And herein it were not amisse to be noted that not only some smal church truly so called though in some pointes vnperfect but many Churches may tread awry whole populous Churches may be seduced Psal 116.11 For truely men whether sole single or assembled and making a Church or churches are but men and therefore prone to sinne and soone deceaued and as the moone doth often ecclypse so Churches may sometimes erre Men cannot his stil the white shal they not therefore aime at the marke And yet an other good obseruation it is that if any man therefore will needes be wilfull vnwilling to contend to perfection because all men necessarily haue imperfections verily that man is vnwise and wanteth grace and can be no child of the Church of God which is an house of such men as inuocate and call vpon the holy name of God 2 Tim. 2.19 And whosoeuer so doth of duty must euermore more and more depart as far as he possiblely may from all iniquitie And to this end both euery where Paul preacheth and here writeth and wisheth as followeth The greeting 3 Grace and Peace Grace is Gods fauour peace signifieth gods blessing in * Gen. 43.23 a prosperous estate Grace goeth before and Peace followeth after and both proceede by the meanes of Christ our Sauiour Rhemish Test Pag. 384. Wherein I cannot omit a Rhemish and a peeuish note that misliketh the vsage of this salutation appropriating it to the Apostles without all reason and foolishly inferring that because Heretickes and namely Manicheus haue vsed it therefore we maie not vse it * The salutations were vsed of the Apostles may be vsed by others I pray you why did Paul request that mutuall prayers bee made for him if others might not praie for him as hee did for them And why may not al pray especially for Grace and Peace Or may I not wish them to my selfe Or if to my selfe why not to my * Rom. 13.9 neighbour Or wherein lieth the lette May I not wish a man Gods grace Or may I not pray for the peace of men Or may I pray at all and can I praie almost for anie thing and not for these thinges and with these wordes For the other point that Manicheus did vse it * Epiphanius haeres 66. I finde hee did And what of that The best things either in hypocrisie may be pretended for hypocrites pretend not the worst or else the best thinges to purposes may bee abused And what then The Pharisie abuseth his long praiers the tempter abused the holie Scriptures the Corinthians abused the Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper and Manicheus abused this good salutation which yet is not the thing is so found fault with in him But hee tooke vpon him to be an Apostle as the woorde is

is praised in hir youth I graunt yet no otherwise than other * 1 Thes 1.8 churches but that Rome that was is not the Rome that now is She was a chast virgine while shee was young but hir old bones now are rotten and putrified with innumerable fornications and her praises in hir highest honour were neuer comparable to Hierusalems estimation Why Peter taught in Rome What then Christ taught in Hierusalem But Peter was martyred in Rome And what of that Christ suffered at Hierusalem And I take it the death of either is rather is the shame than the praise of the places But where in what one place not only in the Actes but in anie place in all the Scripture is Rome termed the Hierusalem of the Church Or why is god bound to a visible Church now made vp of the Gentiles more than hee was to the Iewes for to speake of Peters rotten chaire at Rome is a roming vagrant imagination Nay are not the promises of God made with the same couenantes of duety and with the same condicions and prouisoes of forsiting our estate like as did the Iewes if we shal do as they did The ensamples of the old Testament are warnings vnder the new If God forsake Bethel is that nothing to Silo Or if God forsooke Bethel and Silo is that to be neglected of Hierusalem Or if Hierusalem Sion Silo and Bethel be all forsaken is this not to be regarded of the Gentils Cannot shal not may not the church made vp of Gentils with her Hierusalem which is pardy Rome be diuorsed May she not can shee not shal she not be diuorsed If Sem shoulde bee thrust out and Iaphet admitted were this no enstruction to Iaphet Or why are the * 1 Cor. 10. ensamples of former times written Or is God the God of the Iewe and the God of Israel to take vengeance where they sinned and not on the Gentils Or brake hee off the naturall Oliue and will he spare the wild And to whom by name were these last words written Were they not written to the Church at Rome Rom. 11. where she stoode in case then to be broken off which is a word equiualent and of like meaning to the word of diuorsed I graunt shee may crie out the Church the Church the visible Church the Mother-Church and yet the Romish papacy is but a lying strumpet and a harde stepdame to the true members of the Church of Christ and this is the mystery of iniquity sitting in the Church or as Saint Austine saith Aug. de ciuit Dei lib. 20. c. 19. In templum Dei for and in steed of the church and is not the Church but an Antichristian company so that the visible brag and shewe of the Church is not the Church and that 1. Is one point in this question and 2. The other point was that God is not bound to a visibility at all and for both points wee haue shewed sufficiently For for that of the inuisible case of the Church the complaint of Elias is pregnant and then that numbers bearing the name of the Church and bragging of the Temple are but lyars is prooued by the Prophets and Scriptures to haue beene exemplified euen in the best places and whereof in special Rome hath a fair warning by the Apostle to the Romanes We doe not deny but professe and thank God therefore that hitherto since the ascention of our Sauiour Mat. 15. the little musterd seede hath growen to that height that the litle birds haue made their nests therein but the puttock the kite and birds of cruel kind haue come to their nestes and dealt hardly with the small foule yea they haue taken their places and their owne possession and that vnder faire pretences no doubt And the Church and kingdome of God being of condition as the waters of Siloe at the foote of Sion running softly shee maketh small noyce when shee receaueth great iniury yea euen when the Scote Otter haue taken vp their lodging in her tree For if we reuolue such stories of ancient time as but scriueners and writers could afford vs when printers were not and while no enemies wanted yet shall we find that the spawne of heresies was infinit and to this day we see the number of infidels are without number alas what discerning coulde there bee of some one graine or two in comparison amongst so much chaffe At such seasons when the whole church as the Church of Sardy had defiled her clothes Reuel 3. that is to say that outside and outward sight and shew of her selfe might not Bertram in Germany Hus in Bohemia Sauonarola in Italie Wicleue in England Armochane in Ireland take vp almost euen Elias complaint that they were left alone And this was an old course of most ancient time to see the church brought to a narrow strait and a low eb In the dayes of Noe but eight persons were left when the find came In the time of Lot he alone and a few of his were saued when whole fiue cities were destroyed and as Elias complayned that he was alone so Micheas stoode post alone against foure hundred who were called Prophets as well as hee and if then as many tymes else a man should haue be-taken himselfe to the more visible number should he haue done well But you say in the new Testament euer ioine to the most that professe the name of Christianity and you cannot misse In deed I know that the * The motiue of multitudes Motiue of multitudes and generalities is linckt in with the demaund of the visiblenes of the Church For euer the mo the more visible And you thinke you haue the greater number and the mator part yet how long you shal keep them God knoweth but therfore you argue that the truth should be ouerborne with the number of your voyces and the visiblenes of your glory because your pomp is great and your number many and the waters innumetable where the whore sitteth Giue me leaue a litle and pardon mine vnaccustomed length in these quarrels of great importance for as I wish to open the very truth so would I not willingly pretermit their pretenses of truth for maintenance of error While they run alone they are euer foremost and when they buz into your eares and you heare no man but them what maruell if they seduce them that are ready to be missed Actius the Poet. When Actius an old Poet plaied on the stage he pleased euery man very wel when hee pleaded at the bar he neuer got cause and being demaunded the cause thereof his aunswere was that on the stage hee made euery mans part and no man spake but what he deliuered them first and gaue to euery one his kue as himselfe thought best but saith he in the pleading place I cannot carry it so away Mine aduersary replieth opposeth aunswereth and sifteth matters so that I cannot bolster vp a had cause as I