Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	apostle_n	church_n	doctrine_n	4,033	5	6.2595	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15030	A discourse of the abuses novv in question in the churches of Christ of their creeping in, growing vp, and flowrishing in the Babilonish Church of Rome, how they are spoken against not only by the scriptures, but also by the ancient fathers as long as there remayned any face of a true Church maintained by publique authority, and likewise by the lights of the Gospell, and blessed martyrs of late in the middest of the antichristian darknes. By Thomas Whetenhall Esquier.	Whetenhall, Thomas.	1606 (1606)	STC 25332; ESTC S119728	111,256	168

vpon the Church of Sardis as a theife in the night and that they should not knowe vvhat hower he vvould come vpon them And to conclude that he vvould spue the luke warme Laodicians out of his mouth All vvhich greuous plagues in a short time fell vpon thos Churches of Asia And shall vvee escape if now in this great light of the Gospell vve retaine and maintayne any filthines of corruption in our Churches No God is not partiall neither vvith him is any variablenes neither shadowing by turnning Besides heer also it is vvorthly to be noted that among these seaven Churches of Asia representing all other thereis not one word spoken of an Archangel Archbishop or Lord Bishop that might over rule or governe all the rest vvhich in these our times are some of the greatest and most noisome corruptions vvhich doe overflowe all To vvhich purpose I heere set downe the vvords of M. Fox speaking of the first Primitiue Churches his vvords are these Act Mon. p 36 It is evident saith he to all men that haue eyes in their head c. that there was not then any one Mother Church aboue other Churches One Vniversall Church Militāt Invisible but the whole vniversall Church was the mother Church under which uniuersall Church in generall were comprehended all other particular Churches in speciall as sister Churches together not one greater then another but all in like equalitie c. But this ring of equalitie being broken all flewe in peeces Howbeit of this more shall be spoken God vvilling hereafter There remaineth now to speake of the third generall thing vvhich Christ heere commaundeth his servant Iohn to vvrite of namely Revel 1.19 the things that should come to passe cōcerning the Churches of God after the Apostles time to the end of the vvorld And how the Synagogue of Sathan and the vvhore of Babilon by litle and litle should creepe in and vvith her filthines endeavour to envenime the Churches till at the last she should become that glorious vvhore described in the 17. chapter clothed in scarlet and purple guilded vvith gold pretious stones and pearles and having a cup of gold in her hand full of abominations filthines of her fornication sitting upon the scarlet coullered Beast having seavē heads ten hornes and by her glorious power should banish the true Churches of God and make make them flie into the wildernes that is into secret places hidden and vnknowne vnto men But leaving the high estate of the Babilonish whore vvhich is the great Cittie that in Iohns time reigned over the Kings of the earth vvhich all men know vvas the Citie of Rome and now calleth her selfe the Catholique Church Leaving her as I haue said in her magnificence I vvill shew how by litle and litle she crept in and so at the last got vp vnto that her high estate Now this beginnyng of corruption both in doctrine and Discipline made no long delaye after the Apostles time Eusebius Hist Eccle For as Evsebius in his Ecclesiasticall History lib 3. cap 32. saith Vt vero et Apostolorum chorus c. As soone as the company of the Apostles and all that age which had received the hearing of the Lords owne liuely voyce was departed out of this world then as it were into an emptie house the wicked error of false doctrine thrust in and plunged her selfe Which thing also is euident by all Ecclesiasticall Histories as the heresie of Cerinthus sheweth about the yeare of our Lord 70. Which taught that the vvorld vvas not made of God but of Angells and that Circumcision vvas necessary to be observed and that the kingdome of Christ after the resurrection should be vpon the earth And likewise the heresy of the Ebionites about the yeare 85. Which taught that Christ vvas very man both by Father and Mother and that Moses law vvas necessary to be observed Thus daily many heresies and foule corruptions crept in so that by the time that Augustine and Epiphanius lived they vvrote speciall books against heresies to the number of an hundred severall heresies of note cōtayning all of them great corruptions some in doctrine and manners some in Discipline and orders of the Church Which corruption in Church-Discipline was often times the cause of the hereticall doctrine And heerin I purpose God assisting me cheifly at this time to insist shewing what the auncient Fathers of the Primitiue Church did practise teach in these pointes of religion now controversied among vs and likwise what the lightes of the gospell the blessed Martyrs of God from age to age since even vnto this day haue also practised and taught touching the same And this I doe the rather because many excellent men haue alreadie by manifold reasons grounded and taken out of the word of God proved that there ought to be a full reformation both in Doctrine and Discipline according to that order in the Church which Christ and his Apostles left Which must be acknowledged to be the onely sure ground of proofe for all pointes of controversie in the Church of God But because the enimyes of ful true Reformation of religion doe yet after the old fashion rest vpon custome antiquitie and auncient Fathers I haue thought good to follow this course before named that it might be plainely seene both how the cheife of the auncient Fathers and also of the principall lights set vp by the Lord in the deapth of the darknes of Antichrist with one voyce agrement taught practised and proved the same both by the scriptures and manifold reasons grounded thereon touching the matters of reformation now desired And heerin I thinke good for example before I enter into the rest to set downe out of Epiphanius the heresie of Audianus which heretickes were afterward called Anthropomorphits who being thrust out of the Church as simple men in time lacking learned teachers fell into a perswasiō and beleife that God was like vnto a man whereof they tooke the name of their heresie Erat autem vir a Mesopotamia oriundus clarus in patria sua c. Epiphanius de Heres Audianus saith Epiphanius was a man by birth of Mesopotamia a famous man in his owne Countrie for the sinceritie of his life and of faith and Zeale towards God which often beholding the things that were done in the Churches he did oppose himselfe against such evills even to the face of the Bishops and Elders and did reproue them saying These things ought not to be soe done these thinges ought not to be soe handled as a man studious of the veritie and of such thinges as are spoken by men which lead a most exacte life and are vsually spoken for loue of the truth Wherefore Audianus seeing such thinges as I haue said in the Churches he was driven to speake and confute it and kept not silence For if he saw any of the Cleargie to seeke after filthy luker whether he were Bishop or

a holy Senat of Elders which dilligently warned thē that transgressed in the Church corrected them sharply yea and excluded them out of the Ecclesiassticall fellowship namely if they perccaved that there was no hope of a mendment to be looked for in them But in the latter times the Popes Bishops tyrannically taking that kind of punishment into their hands and excercising it sacrilegiously contrary to the first institution haue turned an wholsome medicine into an hurtfull poyson making it abominable both to the good and bad Behold what fruit this alteratiō of Gods order ordināce in the Church hath brought by taking away the Eldership from the Church or Congregation and committing it unto the Bishops who by their Lordly authority tyrannically saith M. Bullinger tooke it from the Church into their owne handes and that even in some places where the light of the Gospell is set upon the golden candlesticks thereof whereby they haue turned an wholsome medicine into an hurtfull poyson making it abominable both to the good and bad as in all Queene Elizabeths time we might see heere in England that by their Lordly power oftentimes for such a trifling matter as an honest Magistrat would haue been a shamed to laye a man by the heeles they were not a shamed to commit a christian to the Devill And shewing what the Elders were he sayth Wherefore the Elders in the Church of Christ are either Bishops or otherwise prudent learned men added to Bishops that they may the more easily beare the burden layd upon them Decad 5 sermon 3 and that the Church of God may the better and more conveniently be governed For Paule saith The Elders that rule well let them be counted worthy of double honor most specially they which labour in the word and doctrine 1 Tim ● There were therefore certaine other in the Ecclesiasticall function who albeit they did not teach by and by as did the Bishops yet were they present with them that taught in all businesses Perhaps they are called of the same Apostle elsewhere Govenours 1. Cor. 1 ●● that is to say which are set in authority concernyng discipline and other affayres of the Church And in this poynt with Bullinger M. Peter Martyr most playnely agreeth He that ruleth well etc. Martyr in Rom. 1 2 This me thinketh saith M. Martyr is most fitlie to be understood of Elders not in very deed of them which had charge of the word and of doctrine But of those which were appoynted as assistants unto the Pastors they as being the discreter sorte indeed with a greater zeale godlines were chosen out from among the laitie Their office was cheifly to attend unto Discipline c. And touching the Lordship of Bishops where it is objected against thē that think Bishops should be no Lords that they would mainteine the Anabaptisticall opinion which deny Magistracie and the authoritie of Kings and Princes M. Bullinger confuteth the Anabaptists with the selfe same reason and scripture whereby he proveth that Bishops should be no Lords Decad 2 sermon 9 And unlesse that Christians saith Bullinger when they are once made Kings should continue in their office and governe kingdoms according to the rule and lawes of Christ how I beseech you should Christ be called King of Kings Lord of Lords Therfore when he said Kings of nations haue dominion over them but so shall not ye be He spake to his Apostles who stroue among themselues for the cheife and highest dignitie As if he should haue sayd Princes which haue dominion in the world are not by my doctrine displaced of their seates nor put besids their thrones for the Magistrats authority is of force still in the world and in the Church also The King or Magistrate shall reigne but so shall not yee ye shall not reigne ye shall not be Princes but teachers of the world and Ministers of the Churches Thus breifely saith he I haue answered to the Anabaptists obiections And againe upon the very same matter in like sort in the 5 Decade and 2 sermon citing the lik place of Peter Not as though ye were Lords over Gods heritage saith he Peter speaketh not of any Empire and Lordship yea by expresse words he forbids Lordly dignitie For even as he is appoynted of the Lord a Minister and an Elder not a Prince and a Pope so also he appoynted no Princes in the Church but Ministers and Elders who with the word of Christ should feed Christs flocke And upon that place of Luke the 22 The Kings of the Gentiles raigne over thē they that beare rule over thē are called gratious Lords c. Decad 3 sermon 3 This simple and playne truth saith M. Bullinger shall cōtinue invincible against all the disputations of these Harpyes The most holy Apostles of our Lord Christ will not be Lords over any man under pretence of religion yea S. Peter in playne words forbiddeth Lordship over Gods heritage and commandeth Bishops to be examples to the flocke Marke how M. Bullinger applyeth this place of scripture and how bitterly he speaketh agaīst the Lordship of Bishops calling them Harpyes that is monstrous birds having maiden visages and talens of a mischevous and marveilous capacitie But before in the same sermon he sayth In the order of Bishops and Elders from the beginnyng there was singular humilitie charitie and concord no contention or strife for prerogatiue or titles or dignity For all acknowledg themselues to be the Ministers of one Master coequall in all thinges touching office or charge He made them unequall not in office but in gifts by the excellencie of gifts And therfore in the first Decad second sermon he saith Did not Christ himselfe refuse a crowne upon earth And did not he that is Lord of all minister Doth not he himselfe disallow that any Minister should seeke any prerogatiue no not in respect of Eldership He that is greatest among you saith he let him be as the yoūger He therefore commandeth an equallitie amongst them all And therefore S. Ierom iudgeth rightly saying that by the custom of man and not by the authoritie of God some one of the Elders should be placed over the rest and called a Bishop wheras of old time an Elder or Minister Bishop were of equall honor power and dignitie And it is to be observed that S. Ierom speaketh not of the Romish Monarchie but of every Bishop placed in every Citie aboue the rest of the ministers And to answer the objection which is made in defence of the Lordbishops that they take not upon them civill offices and Lordly dignities but by their Princes Magistrats it is layd upon them and given them he saith Shall we beleiue that Peter would haue receaved secular power with imperiall goverment if the Emperour Nero had profered it him No in no wise for this word of the Lord tooke deepe roote in his inward bowels But it shall not be so