Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	4,231	5	6.1426	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19564	Catechismus, that is to say, a shorte instruction into Christian religion for the synguler commoditie and profyte of childre[n] and yong people. Set forth by the mooste reuerende father in God Thomas Archbyshop of Canterbury, primate of all England and Metropolitane	Cranmer, Thomas, 1489-1556.; Jonas, Justus, 1493-1555.	1548 (1548)	STC 5993; ESTC S109272	142,949	534

broughte in of later yeres whiche bryngeth vs not vnto the true knowledge of god but leadeth vs into errors and ignoraunce of God But if you wil lyfte vp your mindes to god good children to know his diuine maiestye hys infinite power wysedome goodnes and other his godlye perfections loke not vpon a deafe domme blynde lame and deade ymage made by a painter or caruers handes but loke vpon heauen and other creatures made by goddes awne handy worke loke vpon man who cā speake see smell heare feale and go and hath lyfe wyl and reason and whome no man but God himselfe made to be his lyuely image and similitude We haue also y e holy scriptures whiche declare vnto vs the wonderful workes of God by which thynges wee maye be ledde to the knowledge of God without painted or carued ymages Now paraduēture some wil say that Christ hathe a bodye and lykewyse haue saintes therfore of them we may haue ymages althoughe of God there can be made no ymage And further they wil say that the cause why ymages wer forbid was perryl of ydolatry and worshipping of theym So that where there is no suche peril we may haue ymages Yet as I will not vtterly deny but they may be had so I thincke it more cōuenient for christē religion that they shuld be taken out of Christen mens churches then that they shoulde be placed in the temple of God And of this my opinion I wil shewe you certaine good groundes to thintente that whan you be demaunded why we Englyshe men haue no ymages in our churches you maye be able to make therunto a reasonable aunswer and that also in time to come you may declare to your children what abuses haue crepte into the church by the occasion of ymages That if anye man shall hereafter god about craftily to brynge in ymages agayne for hys owne lucre sake they maye the soner perceyue hys Iuglynge and so the better auoide the perill and daunger Fyrst it is certaine that we neither haue commaundement counsell nor example of the scripture nor of the primatiue churche in thapostilles time nor many yeres after to set vp ymages in our churches As it maye appeare by the holy mā Epiphanius Bishop of Cypres a man of great estimation an .xi. hundreth yeres passed for his great lernyng and vertue and by whom not only in his lyfe tyme but also after his death god wrought many miracles He in an epistle which he wrote to the Bysshoppe of Hierusalem whiche epistle saint Hierome did translate out of Greke into Latine writeth that as he passed y e contrey about Hierusalem he founde in a church a cloth painted hauing the image of Christ or of a saynte And whā I saw saied he an ymage of a mā hang in the church of Christe contrarie to the authoritie of the scripture I cut it in peces counseled thē to buri some pore dead mā therin And after he wrote to the Bysshop of Hierusalem that he shuld commaunde al the priestes not to suffer suche images beynge contrary to our religion to hange in the church of christ Wherby it appeareth y t in those dayes ymages were not alowed to be sette vp in churches amonge christen menne yea al thoughe it were the ymage of Christe or any sayncte but that the vsage of ymages beganne after that tyme. And yf we wyl beleue aūcient Histories ymages wer brought into churches by the pollicye and force of the Byshoppes of Rome many good christian Emperors withstanding the same to their power But Idolatrie by the byshoppes of Rome preuailed and seduced many Christen Realmes Moreouer many images teache nothyng elles but erronious and supersticiouse doctrine For what reachethe the picture of sayncte Mychael waying soules and our lady putting her beades in the balaunce Forsoth nothing els but superstitiousnes of beades and cōfidence in oure owne merites and the merites of saincts nothynge in the merites of Christe For wheras oure good workes be not able to way against the deuel our lady muste laye her beades in balaūce that is to say wil workes diuised of oure awne braynes not commaūded of God and by them to saue vs. Which doctrine is very false and iniuriouse to Christe What did y e ymage of saint Sondaye teache But that Sondaye was an holye man accordynge to the which teaching beggers asked their almes for saynct Sondayes sake But I wyll leaue to speake of the euell doctrine whiche was taught by Images and I wyll declare vnto you y e ymages haue bene so abused that all the goodnes whiche myght come by theym was neuer cōparable to the great ignoraunce and blyndnes the superstition and idolatrie whiche haue been brought in and cōmitted by meanes of thē The whiche abuses good children your owne fathers yf you aske theym can well declare vnto you For they themselfes wer greatly seduced by certayne famouse and notoriouse ymages as by our lady of walsingham oure ladye of Ippeswiche Saynt Thomas of Canterbury Sainct Anne of Buckestone the roode of Grace and suche lyke whom many of your parentes vilitide yerely leauinge their owne houses and familyes To thē they made vowes pilgrimages thinkyng that God would heare their prayers in that place rather than in another place They kissed their feete deuoutrly and to theim they offred candles and ymages of waxe rynges beades gold and syluer aboundantly And because they that so taught them had ther by great cōmoditie they mainteined the same with fayned myracles and erroniouse doctrine teaching the people that God would heare their prayers made before this image rather than before another ymage or in another place wheras the Prophete Esay sayth that God doeth heare those that be truely penitent in euery place a lyke But peraduenture some wyl saye they dyd neuer teache vs to kneele to y e ymage but before the image But who I pray you gaue them commission to teache you to kneele before the ymage yf you make youre praiers to God why lyfte you not bothe your eyes and handes to heauen where God is why loke you rather vpon the walles vpon stockes and stones then thitherward where you knowe he is to whome you make your prayers What nedest thou which arte the ymage of God to kneele before the ymage of man Again they that be greued with takyng downe of ymages out of the churches will parchaunce say We worshipped not y e image but the sainct whome the ymage dyd signifye And who I praye you commaundeth you after this fashion to worship any sainct why shoulde wee geue that honoure to sainctes nowe after their deathe whiche they themselfes whan they were on lyue dyd vtterly refuse Yf a Christen man althoughe in dede he were a very holy man and a lyuing saint should set himself vpon an aulter in the church you would say to him come down syr that is no place for you to stande in And why shoulde than dōme ymages stande there whan they be

by hearyng of their children learne in theyr age that which passed theym in theyr youth And as myne intente and endeuoure is to profytte both and accordynge to myne office to bryng bothe to the righte knowledge of God so my most earnest and humble prayer vnto God contynuallye shalbe that my good mynde and desyre maye haue good successe and take effecte accordynge to myne expectacion Whiche thing I assuredly hope shal come to passe yf it woulde please youre highnes to suffer this lytle boke by me offered vnto youre Magestie to be redde taughte and learned of the chyldren of youre moste louyng subiectes in whome is great hope of al grace godlynes vertue Youre Graces humble subiecte and Chaplayne Thomas Archbishoppe of Canterbury ¶ A short Instruction into Christian religion for the synguler commoditie and profite of children and yonge people Ouersene and corrected by the moost reuerende father in God the Archebyshoppe of Canterburie The preface THis treatice gentile reader is not wrytten for the Curattes preachers for many of them haue so muche knowledge in holy scripture thankes be to God that they be alreadye sufficiently instructed in these matters But it is written for the behoue of the yong childrē whiche muste be brought vp with playne and shorte lessons For wee see daylye by experience that who so euer wyll teache children must vse muche discretion wysedome not to geue them to much at one time lest he dull and oppresse their wittes and yet that which he gyueth theim he muste often and many times reherse and repete vnto them agayne as nere as he can after one manner of wise and with the same wordes For if thei teache them now this now that now with these wordes now with other then the childrē learne litle or nothing thei kepe almost nothing in memorye beside that they waxe wearie of learnyng conceaue a lothsomnes therto and be more slothfull and vnapte to learne Forasmuch therfore as it was to be feared that euery pastor woulde not take the paynes to drawe out such a shorte forme of teachynge to the children nor we thought good to burden euery one with so great labours and also yf euery pastor seuerally should deuise a forme for his parishe it myght chaunce that there should be as many soundrye formes as there be pastors which diuersitie myght engender muche diuision and controuercie and be also much hinderaunce to the children yf in one place thei learne one forme and in an other place an other forme For to exchewe the said inconueniences we haue thoughte good to deuise this shorte manner and forme tynstructe children and yong men wherby they maye both shortlie and easely learne the chief pryncipilles and begynnynge of Christē religion and doctrine and learne aswell howe they oughte to lyue as also what they should beleue And whan they haue learned this in their tender age they shal not onely vnderstande godlye sermons and al other godly doctrine and bookes y e better but also they shall become godly men and wise louers of true religion and godlynes and to al states and orders of lyfe aswell ecclesiasticall as ciuill be more apte and towarde vnto whiche godly purpose all fathers and mothers Curattes and preachers and al christē Magestrates and officers should with all theyr mynde and endeuore gyue their ayde and helpe Wherunto God of his grace graunt hys fauour and assistaunce Amen ¶ A shorte Instruction concernyng the ten commaundementes ¶ A general begynnyng for all sermons GRace peace and mercie be with you all frō God the father and from his onely begotten sonne Iesu Christe oure Lorde Amē That we may profectablie and with fruite teache learne the word of God let vs call for grace and praye the Lordes praier Pater noster A generall preface to be rehersed after the prayer in the begynnyng of eche sermon made vpon the ten commaundementes THe Prophete Dauid good Children lyke a cōmen scholemaster in the schole of God doeth preache on thys faschyon in the xxxiiii psalme come hither he saith my sonnes herken vnto me I wil teache you the feare of the Lorde who so euer desireth to lyue and woulde fayne see good dayes let him refeaine his tongue frō euyl hys lyppes y t they speake no deceit let him eschew euel do good Let him seke peace and pursue it Now my derely beloued childrē I know suerly that there is none amonge you but that he woulde wyshe to see good dayes and lead a Godlye and quiet lyfe Then muste you folowe the counsell of the prophete Dauid with all dilygence to learne the feare of the Lord whilest ye are yet yong tender of age For y t which mē learne not in theyr youth y e same do they learne in theyr age with more difficultie Therfore learne now with all diligence the feare of the Lord deare children then shal you ware men of excellent vertue and leade a godlye lyfe and shall see good dayes For a blessed and quiet life is not bought with riches nor gotten by ●●●oure but by learnynge the feare of God And he that feareth his maker as an almyghtye God and Lorde which dothe mercifully healpe them that be good and greuously punysheth the wicked he wyll dyligentlye take hede that he doth nothinge contrarye to goddes pleasure but wil kepe hys commaundementes so muche as is in his power And suche godlye children proue learned and wyse men whiche maye be able to profit other and the commen welth also as Dauid saith in an other place The feare of the Lorde is the begynnyng of wisedome Wherfore if you feare God and haue a desyre to be occupyed in godlynes then learne the ten commaundementes wherby God hath taughte vs what pleaseth what dyspleaseth hym what thynge is good and what is euell And yf you learne these lessons perfectly then therby you shal purchase vnto you the beginning of trew and godly wisedome whiche is suche wisedom that many men wel striken in yeares do not attaine to it And yet this wisedom and knowlege of the ten commaūdementes is but onely the begynnyng of sapience for it is the teaching of the lawe But when the doctrine of fayth in Christe is taughte vnto you then you lerne a greater and higher wysedome the whiche the vngodlye or vnfaythfull do not vnderstand nor perceyue but god onely doeth gyue it downe frome heauen to make vs feare him and beleue his holy worde Wherfore good children learne nowe dylygently the beginning of wisedom that is to saye tholy ten commaūdementes and gyue so good eare vnto them that you maye learne them without booke and reherse them when you come home ¶ Here folowe the ten commaundementes which must be recited so tretably and distinctly that children by often hearinge of them maye print them in theyr memories and faye them by rote These are the holy ten commaundementes of the Lorde our God The firste I Am the Lorde thy