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A04459 An apologie or answere in defence of the Churche of Englande with a briefe and plaine declaration of the true religion professed and vsed in the same.; Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae. English Jewel, John, 1522-1571.; Bacon, Anne Cooke, Lady, 1528?-1610.; Parker, Matthew, 1504-1575. 1564 (1564) STC 14591; ESTC S101072 92,781 278

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to Gratianus y e Emperour Let the scripture sayeth he bee asked the question let the Apostles be asked let y e Prophets be asked let Christ be asked For at that time made the Catholik Fathers and Bysshops no doubt but that our Religion mighte be proued out of y e holy scriptures Neither were they euer so hardy to take any for an he●itike whose errour they coulde not euidently apparently reproue by the selfe same scripturs And we verely to make aunswere on this wise as S. Paul did According to this way which they cal heresie we do worship God and the father of our Lorde Iesus Christ do allowe all thinges which haue ben written either in y e Law or in the Prophet● or in y e Apostles workes Wherefore yf we be heretikes and they as they woulde faine be called bee Catholikes why do they not as they see the fathers which were Catholike men haue alwaies don why do they not conuince and maister vs by the diuine scriptures ▪ why do they not call vs agayn to be tryed by them why do they not lay before vs howe wee haue gon away frō Christ from the Prophets from the Apostels and from the holy fathers why stick they to do it why are they afraide of it It is Gods cause whye are they doubtful to commit it to y e trial of gods worde yf wee be heretkes which referre all our controuersies vnto the holy scriptures report vs to y e selfe same words which wee knowe were sealed by God him self and in comparison of them set little by all other thinges whatsoeuer may be deuised by men howe shall wee say to these folke I pray you what māner of men be they howe is it meete to call them which feare the iudgement of the holy scriptures that is to say y e iudgement of God hym self and do preferre before them theyr owne Dreames and full colde Inuentions and to maintaine their owne traditions haue defaced and corrupted now these many hundred yeares the ordinances of Christe and of the Apostles Men say that Sophocles the tragicall Poet when in his oulde dayes he was by his own sonnes accused before the Iudges for a dotinge and sottishe man as one that fondelye wasted hys owne substaunce and seemed to neede a Gouernour to see vnto him to thintent he might cleere him selfe of the faulte he came into the place of Iudgemente and when he had rehearsed before them his Tragedye called Oedipus Coloneus which he had written at the verye tyme of his accusation maruelous exactly and conningly did of him selfe aske the Iudges whether they thought any sottish or doting man could do the like peece of worke In like manner bycause these men take vs to be mad and appeache vs for heretikes as men which haue nothing to do neyther with CHRIST nor with the Churche of GOD wee haue iudged yt shoulde be to good purpose and not vnprofitable yt wee doe openlye and frankely set furth our faith wherein we stande and shew al that confidence which wee haue in CHRISTE IHESV to the intent al men may se what is oure iudgement of euery pa●te of Christian religion and may resolue w t them selues whether y e faith which they shall see cōfirmed by the words of Christ by the writinges of the Apostles by the testimonies of the catholique Fathers and by the exaumples of many ages be but a certain rage of furious and mad men and a compicacie of heretikes This therefore is oure Beli●ffe WE BELEEVE that there is one certaine nature and diuine power whiche wee call GOD and that the same is diuided into three equall persons into y e Father into the Sonn and into the holy Ghoste and that they all be of owne power of one Maiestie of one eternitie of one Godhed and of one substāce And although these three persons be so diuided that neither the Father is the sonne nor the sonn is the holy Ghost or the Father yet neuertheles wee beleeue y e there is but one very God And that the same one God hath created heauē and earth and al thinges contained vnder heauen Wee beleeue that IESVS Christe y e onely Sonne of the eternall Father as long before it was determined before all beginninges when the fullnes of tyme was com did take of that blessed pure Virgin bothe ●●eshe all the nature of man that he might declare to the world the secret hid will of his father which will had ben laide vp from before all ages and generaciōs And that he might full finishe in his humaine bodie the misterie of our redēption might fasten to the crosse our sinnes and also that handwritinge which was made against● vs. We beleue that ●or our sake he dyed and was buried descen●y● into hel● the third day by the power of his Godhed retorned to ●yfe a●d rose again and that y e fourtyth day after his resurrectiō ▪ whiles his Disciples behelde and loked vppon him he ascendid into heauen to fulfill all thinges and did place in maiestie and glory the selfe same body wherwith he was borne wherin he liued on earth wherein he was ●ested at where in he had suffred most painful torments cruell kinde of death wherein he rose againe and wherein be ascendid to the right hand of the Father aboue all rule aboue all power all force all Dominiō and aboue euery name which is named not onely in this worlde but also in the world to com And that there he now sitteth and shall syt till all thinges be full perfetted And althoughe the Maiestie and Godhed of Christ be euery wheare habundauntly dispersed yet wee beleeue y e his body as S. Augustine sa●eth must needes be still in one place that Christ hath geuen maiesty vnto his bodye but yet hath not takē away from it y e nature of a body and that wee must not so affirme Christ to be God that wee deny hym to be man and as the Martyr Vigilius sayth that Christ hath left vs as touching his humaine nature but hath not left vs as touchinge his diuine nature And that the same Christ though he bee absent from vs concerning his māhood yet is euer present with vs concerning his Godhed From that place also wee beleeue that Christ shall com againe to execute that general iudgemēt aswel of them whom he shall then synde aliue in the bodye as of them that be already dead Wee beleeue that the holy Ghoste who is the third person in the holie Trinitie is very God not made not ●reat not begotten but proceding from both the Father and the Sonne by a certain meane vnknowen vnto men vnspeakable and that it is his propretie to mollifie and soften y e hardnes of mans heart when he is once receiued thereunto eyther by y e holsom preaching of the Gospell or by any other way that he dothe geue men light and guide them vnto the
knowledge of God to al waye of truth to newnes of the whole liefe and to euerlastinge hope of saluation Wee beleeue that there is one Church of God and that the same is not shutte vp as in times past amonge the Iewes into some one corner or kyngdome but that it is catholique and vniuersall and dispersed throughout the whole worlde So that there is now no nation which can truly complaine that they bee shutt furth maye not be one of y e Church people of God And that this Churche is the Kingedome the bodye and the spouse of Christe and that Christ alone is the Prince of thys Kyngedome that Christ alone is the heade of this bodye and that Christ alone is the brydgrome of this spouse Furthermore that there be dyuerse degrees of ministers in the church wher of some be deacons some preestes some Byshops to whom is committed the office to instruct the people and the whole charge and settinge furth of Religion yet not withstanding we say that there neither is nor can be any one mā which may haue the whole superioritie in this vniuersall state for that Christe is euer present to assist his Church and nedeth not any man to supply his roome as his onely heyre to all his substaunce and y ● there can bee noe one mortall creature which is able to comprehēd or conceaue in his minde the vniuersall Churche y ● is to witte all the partes of the worlde muche les able to put them in ordre and to gouerne them rightly and duely For all the Apostles as Cyprian sayeth were of lyke power among themselues and y ● rest were the same that Peter was and that it was sayed indifferently to them al Feed ye●indifferentlye to them all Goe into the whole world indifferently to thē al Teache ye the gospell And as Hierom saithe all Byshoppes wheresoeuer they be be they at Rome be they at Eugubium be they at Constantinople be they at Rhegium be all of lyke preeminence and of like preesthood And as Cyprian saith there is but one Byshoprike and y t a peece therof is perfitely wholy holdē of euery particular Byshop according to the iudgement of the Nicene Counsel wee say that the Byshop of Rome-hath nomore iurisdiction ouer the churche o● God then the rest of y e Patriarkes either of Alexandria or Antiochia haue And as for the Byshop of Rome who nowe calleth all matters before him selfe alone except he do his deuty as he ought to do except he administer the sacraments excepte he instructe the people excepte he waxue them and teache them wee say y t he ought not of right once to bee called a Bysshop or so much as an elder For a Byshop as saith Augustine is a name of labour and not of honour bycause he would haue that mā to vnderstand him selfe to be no Byshop which will seke to haue preeminence and not to profyt others And that neither the Pope nor any other worldly creature can nomore be head of the whole Church or a Byshop ouer all then he can be the brydegrome the lighte the saluation and lyfe of the Church For these priuileges and names belong onely to Christe and be proprely onely fyt for hym alone And that no Bysshop of Rome did euer suffer hymselfe to be called by such a proude name and ●u●e before Phoras thempetoures ●ime who as wee know by killing hys owne souerain Morice the Emperour did by a traiterous vyllanie aspire to Thempere ▪ which was about y e sixt hūdreth thirtenth year after Christ was borne Also the Councell of Charthage did circumspectly prouide that no Bysshop should bee called either the highest Byshop or chiefe preeste And therefore ●thens the Bysshop of Rome wil now a daies so be called chalēgeth vnto him self an au●thoritie y t is none of his besides y t he doth plainly contrary to y e aūciēt Coūcels cōtrary to y e old Fathers We beleue that he doth giue vnto himselfe ▪ as it is written by his owne companyon Gregory a presūptuous a prophane a sacrilegious and Antichristian name that he is also the kinge of pryde that he is Lucifer which preferreth himselfe before his bretherne that he hathe forsaken the faith and is the foreronner of Antichriste Further wee saye that the Minister ought laufully duely and orderly to be preferred to that Office of the church of God and y t no mā hath power to wrest himself into y e holy ministery at his own pleasure list Wherefore these persons do vs y e greater wrong which haue nothing so common in their mouthe as y e wee do nothing ordrely and comely but al thinges troublesomly and without ordre and that wee alow euery man to be a preest to be a teacher and to be an Interpretour of the Scriptures Moreouer we say y t Christ hath geuē to his ministers power to bind to loose to open to shutt and y t the office of loosing consisteth in this point that y e Minister should either offer by y e preaching of the gospel the merits of Christe full pardō to suche as haue lowly contrite hearts and do vnfa●nedly repent thē pronoūcing vnto y e same a sure vndoubted forgeuenes of their sins hope of euerlasting saluation Or els y t the minister when any haue offended their brothers mindes with a greate offence with a notable open tault wherby they haue as it were bannyshed and made themselues straungers from the common fellowship and from the bodye of Christe then after perfitte amendement of suche persons doth reconcile them and bringe them home againe and restore them to the company and vnitie of the faithfull We say also that the minister dothe execute the aucthoritie of binding and shutting as often as he shutteth vp the gate of the kingedome of heauen against the vnbeleeuing and stubborne persons denouncing vnto them Gods vengaunce and euerlastinge punishmente Or els when he doth quite shut them out from the bosome of the Churche by open ex-communicatiō Out of doubt what sentence so euer the Minister of God shall giue in this sorte God him selfe doth so well alowe of it that what soeuer here in yearth by their meanes is loosed and bounde God him selfe wil loose binde and confirme the same in heauen And touchinge the kayes wherewith they maye either shut or open the kyngdome of heauen wee with Chryso●●om saye they be the knowledge of the Scriptures with Tertullian we say they be the interpretation of the lawe and with Eusebius we call thē the worde of God Moreouer that Christes Disciples did receiue this aucthoritie not that they shoulde heare priuate confessions of the people and lysten to their whisperinges as the cōmen Massing preestes do euery where nowe a dayes and do it so as though in that one poinct laye all the vertue and vse of the kayes but to thend they should goo