Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	good_a	great_a	lord_n	2,953	5	3.2823	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51420	Episkopos apostolikos, or, The episcopacy of the Church of England justified to be apostolical from the authority of the antient primitive church, and from the confessions of the most famous divines of the reformed churches beyond the seas : being a full satisfaction in this cause, as well for the necessity, as for the just right thereof, as consonant to the word of God / by ... Thomas Morton ... ; before which is prefixed a preface to the reader concerning this subject, by Sir Henry Yelverton, Baronet.	Morton, Thomas, 1564-1659.	1670 (1670)	Wing M2838; ESTC R16296	103,691	240

not from Christ as the Apostles only were and therefore if by the Laws of Men he was prohibited Preaching he ought to obey and never did Preach till Mr. Knightly his Patron procured him a Licence from Archbishop Abbot Where by Ordinance of Parliament the Common Prayer Book was laid aside he never forsook the use of it but read always as much as his very old Age would suffer him When he was desired to Baptize a Child after the Mode of those Times without the Common-Prayer-Book he refused but administred both Sacraments according to that Order the Cross only excepted which practice made some imagine 't was the only thing he scrupled And when by Accident a great Commander in the Parliaments Army who formerly had been his Auditor came with Forces that way he asked Mr. Dod why he did not Pray and Preach up the Parliament He Replied He Preached Jesus Christ which was the work of a Minister And after that asked that Commander Who he fought for He answered For the King and Parliament The good old man replied But what if the King be in a fight and you should kill him The Commander replied He must take his fortune Mr. Dod returned 'T is a strange fighting for the King to kill him and this answer did so trouble and concern this good man that after this discourse ended he mentioned it with great horror to some of his Relations A little before Naseby fight King Charles of blessed memory sent the late Earl of Lyndsey to Mr. Dod to know his Opinion of the War His Lordship found him ill however he sate up and dictated his sense of it But the Earl was on a sudden by reason of the Fight hurried away that whether the King had the paper or no I cannot learn but the Original or a Copy of it was by some zealous men suppressed And their lived near him a Justice of Peace in those ill times who though he pretended to much Piety had little honesty as appeared at his death that was thought the man who suppressed it And when by some of Mr. Dod's Relations he was asked about it he made this answer That in his old Age he began to dote I have done my utmost to retrive it and am not yet out of hopes to do it which if I can compass the World shall see this man was none of those who disliked the Liturgy despised our Ecclesiastical Government none of those who gathered Proselytes by broaching Opinions contrary to the Established Laws none of those who Preached in Corners and so applaud themselves and their fancies that they fill our streets with their unreasonable Argumentations none of those who study to deceive because either they have deceived or been deceived themselves I have now done I only desire the Reader to lay aside all interest and partiality and as an indifferent and unconcern'd person to read this Discourse I here offer thee And since all Truth is great and will prevail I cannot but hope this truth will have a good success If the constant practice of the Primitive Church if the Authority of all the great Reformers in the Protestant Church if the universal consent of Antient holy Fathers if the concurrent Testimony of Modern Divines if the confessions of so many great Divines in our late ill times the blood of Archbishop Laud or the Martyrdom of our late blessed Sovereign have any Rhetorique at all let these compel thee to forsake these Separations and to return to the bosome of that Church whose Orders are Apostolical whose Ceremonies are Primitive and whose Doctrin is most Orthodox Hen. Yelverton From my house at Easton Manduit in Northamptonshire this 12 of March 1668 ● Episcopacy Asserted CAP. I. SECT I. That the Church of Geneva hath both justified and praised our Episcopal Government in England and prayed for the prosperous continuance thereof FRom the Church of Geneva we have that Pole-starr thereof Mr. Calvin himself peremptorily asserting the Right of Episcopal Government in what Church soever That professeth the truth of Doctrine and denieth dependence on the Roman Antichrist And the Case so standing he denounceth them Anathema and accursed who shall not reverently obey such Episcopal Hierarchy so Mr. Calvin which is the more remarkable because the Tractate wherein these words are is written professedly concerning the Reformation of Churches and therefore so much more appliable to the impugners of our English Church none more professedly maintaining the same Religion and somewhat more Reformed than it was in the dayes of Calvin Yea and even in her last Canons opposite to Papists and Popery as ever Again his Approbation of our English Episcopal Government then in being was expressed sufficiently in dignifying Archbishop Cranmer Even for his Archi-episcopal care which he had saith he not only of England but also of the whole World Meaning by endeavouring to his power to propagate the truth of Christ's Gospel every where In which sense of Publick Universal care good Bishops were antiently called Bishops of the Catholick Church Yea and in a more vehement and emphatical expression he exhorteth him with others the Governors of the Church To labour to discharge their Function as that which is enjoined them of God who will exact of them a due account thereof Our second witness Mr. Beza testifieth That the Church of England after the Reformation was supported by the Authority of Archbishops and Bishops excellent Pastors of the Church wishing furthermore blessing upon their Function that it might be perpetual to this Nation And in another place Judging them worthy of punishment that should not willingly obey their Authority So he Next both Mr. Beza and Sadeel jointly inveigh against those As impudent slanderers who should report them to have detracted any thing from the dignity of Episcopacy in this Church What shall we say to that mirrour of Learning Mr. Isaac Causabon who having taken due survey of our Episcopal Government in England doubted not to publish to the World That no Church in the World doth come nearer to the form of the Primitive Church than it doth so far saith he that they that envied her happiness are notwithstanding constrained to extol it judging furthermore That what either belongeth to the Doctrine of Salvation or to the decency of a Church is found in her as well as in any other Church upon Earth And in a Brotherly and Christian close concludeth saying Praised and magnified be God therefore Even as he did at the sight of the Consecration of Bishops in Paul's Church with this pathetical ejaculation Good God saith he how great was my joy do thou Lord Jesus preserve this Church and restore such to their wits who do deride these things So he After these Doctor Diodati now a famous Preacher in Geneva at his being in England did not a little joy to observe our Episcopal Government who if he had been an Adversary thereunto would not

ἘΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΣ ἈΠΟΣΤΟΛΙΚΟΣ OR THE EPISCOPACY OF THE Church of England Justified to be APOSTOLICAL From the Authority of the Antient Primitive Church And from the Confessions of the most Famous Divines of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas Being a Full Satisfaction in this Cause as well for the Necessity as for the Just Right thereof as consonant to the Word of God By the Right Reverend Father in God THOMAS MORTON Late Lord Bishop of Duresme Before which is Prefixed A PREFACE to the READER concerning this Subject By Sir Henry Yelverton Baronét Thus saith the Lord Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the Old Paths where is the good way and walk there●n and ye shall find rest to your souls Jerem. 6.16 Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi Authoritate Apostolica traditum rectissime creditur St. Augustin de Baptismo contra Donat. Can. 24. London Printed for J. Collins in Westminster-hall 1670 To the Most Reverend Father in God GILBERT By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of All ENGLAND and Metropolitane and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privie Council My LORD I Have often wonder'd how it comes to pass that the Sacred Order of Bishops should in this Island meet with so many unreasonable Adversaries when in all the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas we are counted the only happy Nation who enjoy the Purity of Doctrine with the Primitive Government And I confess my wonder is the more increased when I consider that the Romanists look on our Church as their most dangerous Enemy because we have not only the External Glory of a Church but a continued Succession of Bishops which some amongst them are so ingenuous as not to deny and yet these men amongst us who so vehemently cry down Popery and so highly admire even the misfortunes of the Reformed Church do by a strange Antiperistasis assist their Enemies and despise their Friends It was a good Observation of that great man Archbishop Land That Caiaphas the High Priest advised the crucifying of our Saviour that the Romans might not take away their Name and Nation and yet that Counsel so Magisterially given so deeply laid and so wickedly contrived brought on them that suddain destruction they hoped to avoid And have not we My Lord found by sad Experience the inference that Great Prelate made fully true Since the Papists have not only had a great harvest amongst us but all sort of damnable Heresies have like a flood broke in upon us and Atheism hath so prevailed that if God out of his Infinite Mercy put no stop to it that Prediction of our Saviour will in our dayes be true That Faith shall scarce be found upon Earth But since the times are now come which St. Clement more than 1600 years ago foretold That there should be contention about the name of Episcopacy And since Reformation and Purity are the Pretenses though Interest or Sacriledge are the true Reasons of Separation amongst us I have in obedience to Your Graces commands put out a Book written some years since by the late Learned Bishop of Durham that all men may see the great Lights of the Reformed Church beyond the Seas are so far from approving the Practices of our Dissenters that they commend and admire our Episcopal Government and therefore I cannot but hope that either these men will return again to the bosome of their forsaken Mother the Church or have so much Ingenuity to desist from deceiving ignorant People with the great Authority of the Reformed Church And now my Lord I must humbly beg Your Pardon that I prefix Your Great Name before this Discourse But since 't is the work of a famous Bishop and in defense of that Order of which in our Church Your Grace is the worthy Primate I cannot but hope acceptance and am very much pleased I have an occasion offered me to let the World know how much I am My LORD Your most humble and very obedient Servant Hen. Yelverton From my house at Easton Manduit in Northamptonshire March 26. 1669. TO THE READER READER THere present thee with a Book written some years since by that great and Reverend Bishop Tho. Morton Lord Bishop of Duresme in the defence of that Order he bore and for which he suffered so great indignities And as it was his Honour to suffer in so good a Cause so it was his great Contentment and satisfaction when he came to the end of his long race that he kept a good Conscience though he lost all this world afforded him for it It would be very superfluous in this place to write an Encomium of this Great Prelate who is farr beyond what I can do and is already well performed by that excellent person Dr. Berwick late Dean of St. Pauls who was well acquainted with him many years and had the happiness once to be his Domestick Chaplain I only think fit to say this of him that he was an Antient Bishop and had all the qualifications fit for his Order either to Adorn or Govern a Church but above all he was eminent for his invincible Patience under so many violent Persecutions and almost necessities alwayes rejoycing in his Losses and protesting he thought himself richer with nothing and a good conscience than those were who had devoured his goodly Bishoprick And certainly he that considers the excellency of this Prelate with the rest of his Brethren who with him underwent the fiery Trial will conclude as Tertullian doth of the first Persecution of the Christians Non nisi aliquod grande bonum a Nerone damnatum Nothing but some great good could be condemned by such men I must not omit among the various Qualities of this great Man to tell thee he was 44 years a Bishop a thing so extraordinary that since the first Plantation of Christianity and consequently of Bishops in this Island which if we believe Baronius was the 58 of our Saviour but one exceeded him and he came not to these Dignities per Saltum but passed through all other inferiour Charges before he arrived at the height And one thing is considerable in his Translation to Coventry and Lichfield that King James was pleased to do it at the particular motion of that great Prelate Bishop Andrews who never was known to move the King for the Preferment of any before How excellent he was in Controversies his manifold Writings against the Papists have given the World sufficient testimony and in this he went so high that if he believed not the Pope to be Antichrist he thought him very like him And yet there was never any who more approved of the antient Customs of the Catholique Church than himself And of this I shall give you this particular instance For that Ceremony of Bowing to the Lords Table at the first entrance into the Church he did not only commend by his Practice but publickly