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

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19503	Pathmos: or, A commentary on the Reuelation of Saint Iohn diuided into three seuerall prophecies. The first prophecie contained in the fourth, fift, sixt and seuenth chapters. By Mr. William Cowper, Bishop of Galloway.	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1619 (1619)	STC 5931; ESTC S108985	231,291	374

multitude for it is said No man could number them Next their varietie they are of all Nations and people Thirdly their vnity in their action and song common to them all These three coniunctly doe greatly augment the glory and felicity of Saints redeemed As for their multitude The Lord promised to make the seed of Abraham in number like the stars of heauen and sand of the sea Some of the Fathers by the starres of heauen will haue Israelites to be figured and by the sand of the sea Gentiles Howeuer that be it is plaine out of this place that the number of elected Gentiles doth farre exceed the number of elected Iewes Multitude as I said doth greatly increase the glory of Saints Euery one of them by themselues are beautifull glorious and maruelous creatures but all of them coniunctly in one multitude and fellowship make their beautie and glorie farre greater For one of them hinders not another one of them derogates not from another it is so with multitudes of men on earth but not so with the multitude of Saints in heauen the moe in nūber they be the greater is the ioy glory of all Thus in the first creation the Lord considering euery one of his works seuerally said of them And the Lord saw it was good But when he looked vpon all coniunctly then it is said And God saw all that he had made loe it was very good Their variety is noted here that they were of all nations kindreds people tongues and yet their variety is no impediment to their vnity for they all sing one song as we shal heare shortly Of this we learn that the Church in not bound to any one nation or place as the Donatists of old would haue it included in such places of Afric as pleased them and Papists now will acknowledge no church but Romane Shall Churches of other Nations Tongues be no Churches because they are not Romane I know all Churches are of one communion but the band of their cōmunion is their faith in Christ who is the head of them all and not their profession of subiection to the Sea of Rome that is but the Beast his vsurpation and can no way be shewed or proued to descend from Diuine dispensation Shall that most ancient Church of the East composed of Grecians a Nation acknowledged by her aduersaries to be a Mother Church in whose language the new Testament was written of Syrians in which tongue the Son of God pronounced his Oracles of Slauonians Russians 〈◊〉 and others in whose bosome are almost all the Apostolike Seas and in whose Iurisdiction were celebrate souen Vniuersall Councel●… shall 〈◊〉 East Church I say be no Church because it speakes not the Romane tongue Or shall the Patriarch of Constantinople President thereof be no Patriarch because he is not subject to the Pope of Rome No sure it is many thousands of good Christians are among them Or shall the South Church which containeth the Nubians the Abyssines subiects of the King of Ethiop otherwise called Prester-Iohn beside many other sca●…ered in Egypt Arabia Caldea with their Primate resident in Caire called Patriarch of Alexandria and his deputy or substitute in Ethiop called Abu●… that is Our Father who look for the remission of their sins in the bloud of Iesus haue their Leiturgies not so agreeable to the Church of Rome as to the Churches reformed And beside those shall the Christians of Tartaria in the North Pers●… and the Kingdomes of the East Indies with their Prelate resident at Seleucia Shall all these bee no Churches no Christians Sith they hold the Christian faith suppose with different Ceremonies Shall these be reiected because they are not Romane and professe not subiection to the Bishop of Rome I speake not of the Churches reformed in Germany England Scotland France Flanders Swethia Poland I know the Church of Rome accounts these for hereticall But it is now more then three hundred yeeres since Reinerius an Inquisitor gaue vnto them this testimonie atleast to their fathers and predecessors They called them Waldenses Leonistae and by other such like opprobrious names But this Sect hath beene of longer continuance then any other for some say it hath endured since the time of Siluester others say it hath endured since the Apostles time Secondly it is more generall then any other for there is almost no Land to which this Sect doth not creepe Thirdly all other Sects do bring in an horrour with the haynousnesse of their blasphemies against God but this Sect of the Leonists hath a great shew of godlinesse because they liue iustly before men and beleeue all things well concerning God and all the Articles contained in the Creed Onely they blaspheme and hate the Church of Rome It is not then to be thought that the Christian Church of Gentiles is to be restrained to the Church of Rome No but the Christian Church hath in her bosome some of all Nations Kindreds People and Tongues who keep the faith of Iesus and are not for that no Christians because not Romane Stood before the Throne Their standing notes their firmenesse and stabilitie in glory they shall neuer fall from it againe Adam was created in a happie estate hee continued not long in it hee had his saluation in his owne keeping and he easily lost it but with Saints redeemed it is not so Secondly it notes that they are in great fauour with the Lord gracious and acceptable to him They are not licenced to stand in the presence of Princes with whom Princes are displeased therefore Haman when they saw the King angry with him they couered his face and carried him out to the Gibbet and hanged him In the end of the last Chapter the wicked cryed out Who can stand but heere Saints are brought in standing before the Throne For the Lord loueth them hee delights in his Saints yea he hath promised that hee himselfe shall bee a Crowne of glory and Diademe of beautie to his people But of this God willing more hereafter And thirdly their standing may impor●… their promptnesse and readinesse to attend the praise and the seruice of the Lord our God Cloathed in long white Robes The white Robe is ascribed to them to note first that they are holy pure and vndefiled for Christ loued his Church and gaue himselfe for it that hee might sanctifie it and clense it by the washing of water through the word that he make it vnto himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blame So are the soules glorified in heauen and so shall our bodies be also without any spot of vncleannesse and therefore represented to S. Iohn couered with white Robes Next the white Robe hath in it some signification of their blessed estate in glory immortality

is printed at Amsterdam in the yeere 1615. Richard Barnard Englishman his Treatise printed at London in the yeere 1617. containes some generals which he Intitulates A Key of Knowledge for the opening of the secret Mysteries of S. Iohns mysticall Reuelation The first of his Contents is that the Booke of the Reuelation is to be diligently studied of all sorts in these last times The second that it is an Apocalypsis and not an Apocrypsis but a Mysterie made manifest The third is what hath made this Booke till these latter times so obscure wherein the obscurity lyeth and to whom chiefly it becommeth so hard to bee vnderstood The fourth what is to be done to come to the vnderstanding thereof to remoue the obscurities and so rightly to expound the same Lastly he sets downe an interpretation of all the most difficult things in the chapter throughout the whole Prophecie Iohn Bal●… Englishman in his Preface hath a short method and summe of the first ten chapters from the eleuenth to the end a larger Commentary which hee intulates The Image of both Churches Where and when his booke was printed is not expressed D. Broughton printed at London In the end of his learned Treatise intitulat Consent of Scripture hath a short discourse vpon this Prophecie wherein hee cleareth the chiefe doubts and difficulties thereof IAMES King of Great Britaine c. was the last of them that came in my hands but with all reason may be reckoned in among the first and the best Among many other his Highnesse workes no lesse Rare then Royall there is a learned Paraphrase vpon this booke of the Reuelation Beside that in his Praemonition to Christian Kings and Princes his Maiestie hath handled the Controuersies of this time concerning Religion like a profound and sound Theolog and by inuincible reasons hath proued out of this Prophecie that the Pope is Antichrist Thus stands his Highnesse in the fore-front of Ieho●…ah his battell fighting for Israel like another Dauid he hath giuen that Romish Goliah with Arguments like flinty stones slung out of the Word a deadly wound whereof he shall neuer recouer His Maiestie hath begunne to make naked the Whore and to discouer her filthinesse masked before with the veile of hypocriticall holinesse Hee hath sounded the Trumpet in the eares of the Emperour Kings Princes and Free Estates through all Christendome The Lord waken their hearts to execute the determinate iudgement fore-prophecied in this Booke vpon the Beast and his Babel Pare●…s his learned and iudicious Commentarie on the Reuelation came in my sight after that I had neerely absolued this first Prophecie Two Necessarie Cautions or Caueats to bee considered in the exposition of this Booke The first Caution VVEE must beware of two extremities in the handling of this Prophecie first that we limit not these Visions so particularly vnto times and persons as many doe whereby they haue greatly empaired the Maiestie and Amplitude of this Reuelation For example one among many is the first Seale which sheweth our Lord riding on his white Horse like a Conquerour no larger in respect of time then from the Baptisme of Christ to the destruction of Ierusalem I know Forthaeus and others extend it larger and will haue it reach from the daies of Christ to the daies of Constantine but this also is too narrow counting The Church should be depriued of great comfort if the Conquerour riding on the white horse were pinched and bounded within so short a time But the certaine truth is Our Lord Iesus mounted by the opening of the first Seale vpon his white horse shall so continue riding through the world at his owne pleasure till he haue gathered in his Saints till hee Ouercome and make his enemies his foote-stoole This will be manifest if we compare the end of this Prophecie with the beginning thereof In the entry of this Prophecie at the opening of the first Seale The Rider on the white Horse appeares in the end of it there he appeares againe I saw heauen opened and behold a white Horse and hee that sate vpon him was called Faithfull and True and in righteousnesse hee doth iudge and make warre c. Hee was clothed in a Vesture dipt in bloud and his Name is called The Word of God All the time of the battell hee is not knowne vnder this Type shall we therefore thinke he was not sighting nor shooting his Arrowes No his Vesture in the second apparition is a witnesse of his victorie and slaughter of his enemies This might haue told them that the Lord Iesus who comes out in the first Seale riding on a white horse and of whom it is so expresly said that Hee went forth conquering that he might ouercome was to continue so till hee had done the worke for which hee commeth forth that is perfected his Saints and subdued his enemies Wee must not limit so short a time to so great a worke they who do so defraud the Church as we haue said of a great and ample comfort For euen in our owne daies and among our selues blessed be his name for it this Conquerour is riding and shall so continue to the worlds end yet the time of the first Seale lasteth as also of the subsequent Seales following it which shall God willing hereafter be declared that the Seales openeth vp the generall course of things till the day of Iudgement and within narrower bounds should they not be restrained What shall I speake of other grosser interpretations whereunto many are driuen by binding this Prophecie to particular persons Can the foure Beasts be foure Euangelists Then S. Iohn behooued to be one of the foure or else yee must make them fiue Euangelists for euery one of the foure prepareth him Or shall the first Beast bee Quadratus Shall the second be Iustinus c. Shall the Angell comming from the East who hath the Seale of the liuing God be Constantine the Great Or shall the Angell that offers vp the prayers of all Saints be Constantine the Great also He was great indeed but this is to make him too great Shall the Angell comming out of the Temple be Thomas Cromwell Lord of Essex Or the Angell hauing power ouer the fire be Thomas Cranmer Or shall the type of the Haruest and Vintage bee appropriate to England Why hath Brightman broached such opinions without all hope or help of verity I know the persons whom he hath named are famous and honourable and that the Lord hath a flourishing Church in England his name bee praised therefore But I am assured the reuerend Bishops the learned Doctors and Diuines there will not vindicate that to themselues which is common to the whole Church It were tedious to repeat all of this sort whereby common types are accomodate vnto priuate persons which is not the fault of Brightman onely though most part of them be forged in his owne braine but of