Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	call_v	church_n	true_a	5,947	5	4.9197	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15697	The fore-runner of Bels dovvnefall wherin, is breifely answered his braggnig [sic] offer of disputation, and insolent late challenge: the particularties [sic] of the confutation of his bookes, shortly by goddes grace to be published, are mentioned: with à breife answere, to his crakinge and calumnious confutinge of papistes by papistes them selues: and lastly à taste. Giuen of his rare pretended sinceritye, with som few examples.	Woodward, Philip, ca. 1557-1610.; Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610, attributed name.	1605 (1605)	STC 25972.5; ESTC S114156	24,220	62

vvith a loquela tua te manifestum facit thy speech doth bewraye thee In the second fortified also with diuers reasons he acknowledgeth our faith which with might and maine he would seeme to oppugne to be the truth and that very religion which Iesus Christ god man brought from the bosome of his father and planted in the worlde so that the Protestants haue againe iuste cause to complaine of him as Balec did of Balaam for blessinge those whom they expected he should haue cursed and worthelie to haue him in iealousie as being fled to them with the same minde that Chusai Arachites did from Dauid to the campe seruice of Absalō The fourth entreateth of the weake groundes of his vvorkes to vvitt vvhat deceites he vseth in reasoninge with exsamples for more perspicuitie and light what treacherous trickes also he practiseth concerninge Doctors and Fathers Councells and Scripture so that the reader shal haue a perfect Anatomy of the corrupt body of his bookes with their manifolde maladies and diseases and with all behould all his foundations and ground workes vndermined and his fortifications blowen vp The fifth and last shall answere the recapitulation of his Suruey or as he partlie speaketh the Perioch in which he would shew at what time diuers points of our religion came in And although what hitherto hath bin written concerneth only his first two bookes yet will I now take the paynes to veiw ouer those also which came out after as that terrible tooth-lesse bitinge beagell called the huntinge of the Romishe Fox the naturall ympe of his motiues and Suruey begotten by them in sinne and iniquitie it resembleth the parentes so liuelie as though it had crept out of their mouthes his Goulden Ballance also with the yoake-fellowe The Counterblast and lastely his late Downefal and what in them I shall thinke meete accordinge to the order propounded by rancke in his due place Yf ought els be added for exsample a more particular reply to the challenge of his Downfall that must be counted for a worke of superarogation what reason hath he now to feare that he shall die before he see his confusion Tender boughes and younge leaues as scripture saith and experience teach are a token that sommer is at hand the particularities likewise before mētioned as buddes shootinge forth are a signe of more plentifull blosomes shortlie to followe if the colde easterne winde of pouertie doth not hinder the growinge and keepe back the springe My principall hope is in our good Lord that as he hath giuen me a minde to write polishe and set forth the worke so he wil asiste me not only with health and libertie but also furnishe me with all those thinges which for such an exploit be necessarie Yf his diuine wisedome which reacheth from end euen to end mightely and disposeth all thinges sweetlie shal othervvise ordanie his name be blessed humaine councels must with al obedience yeald to heauenly prouidēce only I would haue the curteous reader to vnderstande and Bell to knowe that there shall be no fault in me for performinge of what soeuer is promised more then which neither can I in reason assure nor any with equitie euer expect That Papistes doe not oppugue papistes as Bel vainely vaunteth with the discouery of a double slight which concerninge this point he practiseth CHAP. IIII. THe principall thinge wherein Bel would be thought to out runne his fellowe ministers if any he hath and to vvin the bel from them al is a certaine singular gift and superexcellent dexteritie of confoundinge our religion by the professors of our faith and setting one Papist together by the eares with an other This new inuention of his in the epistle dedicatorie of his motiues dedicated to the right Honorable lords of the Councell him self calleth A rare methodical discourse such is the rare humilitie of the reformed order and the memorie therof is so gratefull that he is often twanglinge vpon this stringe to omitt other places in his late Downfal though long since a fowle downefall brake the neck of his soule he obserueth That popish religion hath alwayes beene condemned of great learned papistes that liued in the popes church and in another place his margent telleth vs that The Papistes graunt as much as they desier which I would willingly confesse to be true were not he in sayinge so a notable liar How then cometh it to passe will some say that vsually he alleadgeth Catholike authors againste chatholicke doctrine The question is quicklie answered it is not their default but his fraude not his great learning but litle conscience that is the cause thereof The scriptures are daylie for diuers mad purposes vvrested and wroung cleane a gainst the heate and cōtrarie to their true sence meaninge as all knowe and yet no blame to be laid vpon the sacred text but vpon those crooked Apostles that depraue them to their owne and others perdition Yf the word of god may be peruerted mens writinge haue no such priueledge but that they may meete with false fingers such as Bels bee and therfore I giue him to vnderstand that he abuseth gods church deceiueth his ignorant reader and iniureth Catholike authors whē he would make the vvorld beleeue that our owne Docters doe wounde our religion They are cleere from the crime obiected al the suspition which is grovven taketh roote from his malice and not from any desert of theirs they carry not tvvo faces vnder one hoode nor blovve hoate and colde out of one mouth as some doe euery way as honest as Thomas Bel and yet bad inoughe as I intende more breiflie to let the reader to vnderstand Tvvo slightes he vseth to dazell the eies of vnlearned men persvvading them that the spirituall souldiars of the Catholike church haue turned their vveapons to their mutual destruction The first that moste grosse shamefull and common is to falsifie or by one vvay or other to depraue such sentences as he produceth for proofe vvhereof I referr the reader for a litle triall to the next chapter vvhere he shall finde some fevv exsamples more choise of such vvares he shall finde at the next mart vvhere his foule fardle shal be laid open to the veivv of all The second is Whereas Catholike vvriters haue diuersitie of opinions vvith vnitie of religion dissenting in smale matters as namely those vvhich vvee cal schoole-questiōs but neuer disagreeing in any artickle of faith no one euer formally opposinge him self against any thinge defined in generall councell for no such president can he bringe forth yet he maketh his tounge to vvalke and vvould haue the vvorld to thinke that one Papist doth massacre another and that vve had varietie in artickles of faith as though the lunasie of the Protestants had infected vs Plentifull exsamples hereof vve haue in his booke of motiues I vvill breifly cite one Many papistes quoth he as Aquinas Richardus c. doe hould that a simple

THE Fore-runner of Bels Dovvnefall Wherin is breisely answered his braggnig offer of disputation and insolent late challenge the particularties of the confutation of his bookes shortly by goddes grace to be published are mentioned with à breife answere to his crakinge and calumnious confutinge of Papistes by Papistes them selues and lastly à taste Giuen of his rare pretended sinceritye with som few examples Ierem. 51. v. 44. I wil visit Bel vpon Babilon and cast forth of his mouth that which he hath swallowed vp and the gentils shal no more flocke vnto him and that because the wall of Babilon shall fall downe ANNO M. D C. V. THE FORE-RVNNER OF BELS DOVVNEFAL The vaine and foolishe title of his booke with a note of a quadruple deuise which he vseth to winne him self credit and to endomage the Catholike cause CHAP. I. THERE came lately to my handes a certaine booke presented the last Easter tea●me to the viewe of the worlde by one Thomas Bell long since à Minister after that a Preist and for some yeares past and at this present Sicut erat in principio as it was in the begininge a Minister againe in which state he meaneth constantly to continue vntil the Lord by new reuelation shal otherwise dispose of his person The title of his booke looketh bigge as though it had eaten buls-beife and accordinge to the comon sayinge as the Deuile lockt ouer Lincolne and is readie to quarrel with any Papist whatsoeuer this it is The Downefal of Poperie proposed by way of a new challenge to al Englishe Iesuites and Iesuited or Italianized Papistes daringe them al ioyntlie and euery one of them seuerally to make answere thereunto if they can or haue any truth on their side knowinge for truth that otherwise al the worlde wil crye with open mouthes Fye vpon them and their patched hotch-potch religion This name of his booke by al probabilitie was giuen by the godfather when he was in the ruffe of his roperye and came hastely into the kitchin from some homely place where a bad sent had intertained his smellinge instrumēt daungerous in these times of infection for an emptie stomake and not findinge there any meate meete for his ministerships mouth but only an odd hotch-potch fel into some cholerike pange in which distemperature returninge to his studye the title was begotten for otherwise why him self being à patched minister created of two recantations should cal our religion à patched hotch-potch I cannot see nor I thynke him self hauing yet the eies of two ministres and one Preist Our church hath not stoode simperinge in a close pot or poore pipkin no man can tel where for I know not for how many hundred yeares together as their cōgregation hath which though falsely pretended is the best cloake they can finde to couer the shame oft hir naked continuance but hath alwayes borne saile in the sight of the worlde maugre the malice of the deuile and al the tempestes of persecution that the furies of hell could raise Neither is our religion patched together of many mamockes of olde stinkinge heretical assertions as their faith is where denienge of prayers for the dead and the appointed fastes of the Church borowed from Aerius scorninge of reliques scoffinge at inuocations of Saintes reiectinge voluntary pouertie and allowance of Preistes taken from Vigilantius raylinge at the holy Crosse and sacred Images receiued from Iulian the Apostata and miscreant Mahumetanes and diuers other such like fragments scraped together be in their congregatione entertained for heauenlye articles and so whether it may not truly be tearmed à patched hotch-poch religion and godles galimamphorye of a new gospel I leaue to indifferent iudgment Diuers other bookes in former times hath he also diuulged for he had rather be ill occupied then idle each of them one so like another that any man may easely knowe them to be puppies of one litter sundrie puddles stewinge from one sincke In al which the principal scope he outwardly aymeth at is the ouerthrowe of Poperie as he speaketh and the aduancement of the truth but whether any Pharaisaicall makinge broade his phylacteries and enlarging his fringes the loue of the first places at suppers and the first chayres in the Sinagoges and salutations in the market place and to be called of men Rabbi hath also his share and diuide stakes that is councel to any and a mysterie so secretlye carried that it is without the compasse of al humane diuination for the happie effecting of these his designements and to procure credit with his readers for I thinke he hath litle with his hearers like an olde soldiear and beaten Captaine he vseth many stratagems but especially fower The first is to prouoke to challenge to dare al learned men to the combat for would any man in his wittes make such an offer were he not moste assured of victory and to triumphe ouer the Romans that haue so often triumphed ouer others The second is with great sorrowe of sowle to lament that he can get no answere to his bookes and vtterly to dispaire euer to see any such thinge effectually attempted an euident demonstration that they be of rare erudition and truth in his side The third is an inuection if we liste to beleue him of his owne as Thraso said in Terence and that is to ouerthrowe papistry by papistry it self and to ruine our saith by the principal professors and patrons of our religion Mary god blesse vs from this Bell for neuer was there such à peale runge in our dayes or in the dayes of our forefathers The fourth and laste is his saint-like protestation of sincerity vpright dealinge and hādlinge al thinges accordinge to equitie and conscience These be the mayne bulwarkes of his bookes framed by this excellēt engenite both to defend them selues and to batter vs Al which not withstandinge are nothinge els but skearcrowes painted paper walles seeme they neuer so terrible to simple soules Spiders webbes are strong ynoughe to make bootye of flyes and gnattes weake nettes to catch swalowes and greater birdes And I wil not deny that he might with some pretie credit haue tampered amonge litle ones who are soone scandalized but when wich phantastical conceit he supposeth that he can contriue the ruine of gods Church or confounde al learned Catholikes whatsoeuer Sutor vltra crepidam the Cobler is beyond his shoe and he doth walke as the Prophet saith in great and wonderful thinges aboue him self His malice is great but his power nothing corespondent He is a curst cowe but with short hornes wherfore let him striue againste Catholike veritie struggle with God and Church war against heauen repentance god graunt that not fruitles wil be the end of his labours and perpetual disgrace without diuine amendinge grace the iust rewarde of his vvorkes If any ouerswaied with a false weeninge thinke otherwise let him haue a litle patience voutsafe the reading of this smale

Preist by vertu of the Popes dispensation may lawfully and effectualy minister their Sacrament of Confirmation We vvillingly graunt it as being the moste receiued and common opinion vvhat of all this But this opinion saith he is stoutly impugned by other great papistes to witt Bonauentura Alphonsus Durandus Scotus Maior c. Be it so what then such dissention as this is without any violation of faith at all O saith he what gteater and more important dissention can be then this for Confirmation is a Sacrament with the Papists If he knewe not and be content to learne I wil teach him A far greater dissention it were euen in this verie point of Confirmation if some hould it to be à Sacrament and others did denie it the disagreemēt was of the extraordinary minister of the Sacrament which is no such important matter as he would inforce of the Sacrament it self they made no question doe not we knowe that the Protestants them selues allowe and prescribe the signe of the crosse in Baptisme and that the Puritanes detest it that they in necessitie permitt lay people to baptise and these thinke it such a prophanation of that sacred misterie that they had rather suffer infants to die without baptisme so great a zeale they haue to pack them to hell warde Should I come vpon him for this varitie and crie out after this manner what greater and more important dissention can be then this for Baptisme is a Sacrament with them would he not condemne me for a notable wrangler seinge they contend not whether Baptisme be a Sacrament or no but obout other questions to vvitt of a certaine ceremonie and the extraordinary minister which they make no great account of Let him then queitly take him self by the sleeue and see whether the measure will not serue and much better to make for his ministershipp a liuery of the same cloath Were the dissentions in the Protestants congregation of no more fundamentall points then ours bee it should not daily be shaken with such terrible earthquakes and to the great disgrace of a new timbered gospell for lack of good worke manshipp be in daunger of fallinge but alas they are continually brawling like beggars and lie lugginge together by the eares about the verie sinnowes and soule of their religion in endles quarrells and contentions Luther and Zwinglins are proclaimed by M. Iewell that Patriarchal challenger for moste excellent men sent of god to giue light to the world and yet did Luther defend till death the true reall and substātiall presence of Christes bodie in the Sacrament giueinge his black blessinge to all those that taught otherwise Zwinglius for all that hauinge the spiritt no lesse then Luther vtterly denied the reall presence contemninge his curse and disdayninge to followe the light of his lanterne such svveete agreement there vvas betvvixt these tvvo moste excellent men sent of god Can Bell deny this to be true or that this point of religion is materiall as vpon vvhich dependeth saluation or damnation I knovve him to be a braue minded man and one that dare venture as far for the credit of the gospell as an other Yet I suppose he vvill neuer stand vpon any tearmes but queitly admitt both the one and the other for knovven truthes and then must I be so boulde as to demaunde hovv he can defend one of these heauenly prophetes from being an heretike and damnable doctor and so vvith the candle of false doctrine to haue shevven his follovvers the vvay to euerlastinge darknes The minister is quick sighted to behould a mote in our eie but he cannot see a beame in his ovvne May vve not iustly say to him vvith our Sauiour Hipocrite cast out first the beame out of thine owne eie and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote of thy brothers eie To leaue Germanie and speake of the professors of our owne contrie Doe not the Protestants thinke the dignitie superiority of Bishopps and Archbishopps agreable to gods vvord and yet doe the Puritanes in the name of the lorde by their champion Martin Mar-prelat and his mutinous make bates that band vnder his colors crie out as Thomas Rogers saith and it is no councell to any that their callinge is vnlawfull that they be ministers of Antechrist worse then friars and monkes deuiles bishoppes and diuelles incarnate netheir as I suppose will he say that this is a triflinge question for feare of scandalizinge litle ones Aerius of vvhom vve spake before vvas condemned of heresie for equallinge Preistes vvith Bishopps Could Bell haue the luck to finger an Ouerseer ship to vse his ovvne phrase that he may the better knovve my meaninge then vvere the matter cock sure and a flatt heresie indeede to mainteine any such assertion mary till then great vvisdome to proceede vvith deliberation to runne vvith the hare hould vvith the hounde flatter on the one side and faune on the other Can he not reade ridles Dauns est non Oedipus By the next post he shall knowe more of my meaninge in the meane time let him feede in his hart vpon this by faith and be thankfull Bel pretendeth great sinceritye like à true Apostle and yet like à false Apostata vseth it not with some few exsamples of his malitious and corrupt manner of proceedinge CHAP. V. VVHere deceipt is intēded there the Protestacion of sincerity vpright dealinge and a tender conscience as a necessary preparation must be pretended for this is the goulden baite to angle ignorant soules and the cōmon cloake of coseninge companions Iuglers tuck vp their sleeues open their handes and make shew of the plainest dealinge in the worlde False Prophetts put on sheepes cloathinge and the deuill transformeth him self into an Angell of light Iesabell proclaimed afast when she sought the blood of innocent Naboth and the Aposte assureth vs that certaine false teachers and belly gods did by Sweete speeches and benedictions seduce the hartes of innocents Bell as though he were made of no other elements then sincere dealinge and had not so much as the skill to foist in a lie or to mangle and mayme a sentence speaketh often of conscience and honest proceedinge and of his owne free motion and liberality entereth into a bande of subscribinge and forfaiture of his creditt if he can be conuinced of the conrrarie In the epistle of his Downefall To all englishe Iesuites seminary preistes c. thus he writeth In my firste booke published in the yeare 1593. I premised to yeelde if you could conuince me either to haue alleadged any writer corruptly or to haue quoted any place guylefullie or to haue charged any author falesly Yea and in the same place he addeth thath he will neuer require creditt at the readers hand ether in that booke or any other to be published hereafter if any such thinge can be proued against him Vpon this foundation dependeth all the reputation of his workes and