Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	faith_n	teach_v	4,044	5	6.3549	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08707	The ansvvere of the vicechancelour, the doctors, both the proctors, and other the heads of houses in the Vniversitie of Oxford (agreeable, vndoubtedly, to the ioint and vniforme opinion, of all the deanes and chapters, and all other the learned and obedient cleargy, in the Church of England.) To the humble petition of the ministers of the Church of England, desiring reformation of certaine ceremonies and abuses of the Church.	University of Oxford.	1603 (1603)	STC 19011; ESTC S113819	26,966	50

etiam sobrijs hominibu● indigna c. prorsus sine vl la exceptione repudia●imus least peccant of any in the world and would be much lesse peccant if it were cleane purged of these vnquiet and malecontented humours 6 That diverse of them have formerly subscribed to the booke as skornfully they tearme it doth manifestly evince that either our Leiturgy is iustifiable themselues being Iudges or els that they did liberally dispence with their owne consciences which is not the parte of honest men To do that in respect of the times which in it selfe is not lawful proveth litle lesse then hypocrisie to alleadge vnknowne Protestations Expositions and Conditions in their subscription doth argue no sincerity and vpon due examination will fall out to be nothing but meere falsitie 7 As for their labours in the Ministery be they such as they are This Church of England had beene happy if it had not beene troubled with their factions sermons g Mart. Mar. P. Miles monop Hay any work the rest of that spirit scurrile Pamphlets which have given the Adversary much matter of advantage distracted the minds of many weake ones and quite turned some other from the loue of the Truth 8 The number of more then a Thousand is but a vizard which we humbly intreat may be pul●ed from their faces that we may see and know the men that thus grone vnder the yoke of a Christian commendable governement which maliciously and iniuriously they woulde have reputed a most heavy burden of humane Rites Ceremonies The vanity of which their complaint comes now more particularly to be discussed Concerning the matters of their Complaint 1. Of Church service 1 IN the Church service we are ready to mainetaine but they must obiect first and proue the contrary That the Crosse in Baptisme Interrogatories ministred to Infants and Confirmation are most ancient iustifiable and convenient Ceremonies and therefore to be continued 2 That the Church of England nor the booke of Common praier doth not prescribe that Baptisme should be administred by women Though we deny it not to bee h Chytrae de Bap. in Lev. Sneph de Bap. Zuingl de Bap. Hierbr in Comp. Theol. Baptisme if perchance de facto it bee by them administred Fieri non debuit factum valuit 3 That the Cap and Surplice be not vrged it is an absurde speach and implyes confusion For so every man should be suffered in that behalfe to doe what him liketh Againe do not their owne words import that they may well be vsed but they must not be vrged Why what is there in a Cap or in a Surplice that should i Buc. de re vest pag. 707. Pet Mart. Ep. ad Hop Aug. Ep. 154. Calv. in Ex. 23 offende any man of iudgement 4 That Examination where neede is should goe before the Communiō who disliketh Or that it be ministred with a sermon But that it should not be ministred vvithout a sermon is absurd and hath bred in many a vaine and false opinion as if not the worde of Christs Institution but rather the word of a Ministers exposition were a k T. C. lib. 1. pag. 158. necessarily and an essentiall part of the Communion Besides he that readeth our Communion booke shall see that therein the whole manner end and vse of that holy institution is so excellently described as may be insteede of many sermons Also that none should be admitted to that blessed Sacrament of what age state or condition so ever except they were first examined after the Consistorian fashion were insolent iniurious in many respects most inconvenient 5 The termes of l Isai 66 21. Where the Geneva note doth shewe that the Ministers of the new testamēt are to be tearmed Priests Priests and Absolution the * Bucer in Cē sur cap. 10. Ring in Marriage and such other which they haue heretofore traduced in their vnlearned discourses are by diverse of our learned Devines and shal bee iustified As contrarywise by the Petitioners they wil neuer be evicted worthy to be abolished 6 Their desire to haue the long-somnes of service abridged doth well befit their great Devotion Who notwithstanding are wont to spende an houre sometimes or little lesse in extemporarie inconsequent and senslesse praiers conceived rashly by themselues From hence their dislike of set stinted formes of praier it doth proceede that some of them omit some refuse to repeate some condemne the vse of the Lords praier from hence hath Barrow and Greene wood taken their beginning and fetched the premisses of their pestilent and blasphemous Conclusions 7 Church m Iust Mart in quaest ad Or●h q. 107. Aug Conf. li. 10. cap 33. songs and Musicke are much beholden to these men now in as much as they can be content to disgest them so they bee moderated to better edification The time was when wee haue heard them speake in this point after another sort Meretricious Church-Musicke Tossing of tennis bals and such like were there phrases of Gods devine service But thanked bee God that his Maiesties devout affection in this kind hath forced from them this moderation 8 That the Lords day be not prophaned hee is verie prophane that desireth not from his hart But what manner of law-givers are they that lay downe their constitutions in such Negatiues in such Comparatiues For who can devine what they would haue when they desire that the Rest vpon n Pet Martyr Epist ad Hopperum Holy daies be not so strictly vrged Would they haue men vpon such daies goe to plough and carte as some of their humor haue caused their servants to do on the very feast of Christs Nativity Or do they meane that we should take to our selues such liberty therein as certaine Persons lately haue done who being commanded by lawfull auctority to celebrate the fifte of August with ioy and thanksgiving for his Maiesties most strange and wonderful deliverance vpon the said day now three yeares past did notwithstanding spende the same as wee are credibly informed in fasting and mourning and such like workes of their obedience Nay these the like experiments doe cause vs humbly and instantly to desire that both Sundaies and Holydaies may bee religiously observed and the intollerable prophanation of them which is the rather brought in by these mēs preachings and examples may be very severely punished 9 That there may be an Vniformity of Doctrine prescribed That no Popish opinions may be any more taught or defended What imputations are these howe preiudiciall How iniurious Not only vnto the Church governement but vnto the Christian faith established in this Realme What advantage do these men in these shamelesse suggestions reach vnto the Papists As if there were no o We refer to the Articles of Religion agreed vpon established in Convocation Anno 1562. vniformity no cōsent of doctrin amōg vs so ye except thē As if there were some Popish opinions taught and

third last remarkeable matter which we humbly referre vnto your Lordships due regard is a certeine Semblance which in this our halfe yeares silence vvee haue observed in two contrary Factions that haue shewed themselues by their Petitions discontented with the praesent State Ecclesiasticall Government namely in the Papists and the Puritants VVe will vse their owne style and come as neere as we can to their very words 1 They Both intitle themselues the Kinges afflicted subiectes and aboue all other his devoted servants 2 They Both pretend an enforcement of a speedy recourse to his Maiestie for a present Redresse and Reformation 3 They Both cōplaine of being overwhelmed with enduring persecution through losse of Living Liberty 4 They Both ground their Doctrine and Discipline vpon the sacred text of Gods word and Gospell 5 They Both condemne the obedience of Protestantes to the Lawes Established to bee not for Conscience and zeale but for Morall honestie and feare of temporall punishment saith the Papist For their owne quiet credit and profit in the world saith the Puritaine 6 They Both renoūce a publicke alteratiō dissolutiō of the State Ecclesiast but the one pleads for a private Toleration the other forsooth for a Godly Reformation 7 They Both deny that they exhibite their Petitiōs with a tumultuous spirit or with a disloyall Schismatical minde Of vvhich their Semblable Assertions in arguments so opposite we might say in a word as the Orator doth of contrarie Opinions It cannot be that more then one of them should possiblie bee true but it is very possible that both may bee false Yet we rather take vp that in the Booke of * Iud. 15.4 Iudges and say of them and their designes Verily these men are like Samsons Foxes They have their heades severed indeed the One sort looking to the Papacy the Other to the Presbiterie But they are tyed togither by the tailes vvith fire brandes betvveene them Which if they bee not quenched in time are able to set the whole Land in a Combustion and Vprore IF in any of these or in them all there do appeare vnto your Lordships such matter of moment as might move men of care some discretion to write in defence of themselues and the present State if in our manner of writing wee haue held that hand not by way of large discourse but as the brevity of Notes will suffer which doth beseeme a modest and ingenuous answere if in neither of them there be any thing so offensiue or defectiue or impertinent but that vnder the winges of your Honorable Patronage it may passe into the Presence of his Excellent Maiestie and there attend his most iudicious and learned Censure yet so attempered with his rare singuler mildnes as in it he is wont to accept the duty service of his meaner Subiects then and not otherwise we beseech your Lordships that of your wonted favour you will accompany it with your gracefull Presence and as the Argumēt of our religious Affectiōs in al humility present it to his Highnes then wee entreate that in the Honorable regard you have of those Noble partes of this Church which God hath specially betaken into your Protectiō in the loyal remembrance you retaine of Her Maiestie that late was and her happie Government in the bounden dutie you owe to his Maiestie that nowe is and the Well doing of his whole Kingdome in the Pietie and zeale which you beare to God his Church and to his sacred truth you will take occasion heereby All as one man ioyntly to imploy that great Grace and high Favour which God hath given you in the eies of your Soveraigne to the present supporte of Religion maintenaunce of Learning defence of the Church strengthening the State setling the mindes of the People establishing peace and tranquillitie in the Land by taking the Foxes the little Foxes vvhich marre our Vines that they beare small Grapes and by chasing away the wilde Boare of the Wood and the Beastes of the Forrest that otherwise would eate them vp and vtterly destroy them So God shall take Pleasure in your Care and Conscience the King in your faithfull Service his Subiects shal dwel safe vnder the shadow of his Wings and we your Clients shall send this testimony after you Many Patrones of the Clergie many Chauncelours of the Vniversities have done vertuously but These surmoūted them all Now the God that giveth both Glorie and Grace give your Lordships all manner of Graces fitte for your High Callings in this World and That farre most excellent and eternall waight of Glorie in the World to come Your Lordships in all dutie The Vicechancelour the Doctors the Proctors and other the Heades of Houses in the Vniversitie of Oxford To the Reader IMmediately after the Printing of our answere to the Petition there came vnto vs a very kinde and wel-penned Letter concerning this matter Which wee might not suppresse though it bee but rudely here inserted without great iniury to that whole Vniversity and no lesse detriment vnto the cause it selfe JNDORSED To the Vicechancelour and others of the Vniversity of Oxford CVm nuperrimè quidem serò admodum ad aures nostras pervenisset fama de libello Regiae Maiestati pro reformandà scilicet Ecclesià à Ministris mille vt perhibentur exhibito et si nihil in eo novi reperiretur cui non plus millies antehàc responsum sit tamèn quoniam numerum iactant vt intelligerent Millenarij isti Si Saulo mille adstent Davidi in hac causa decies mille nunquam de futuros nihil prius habuimus aut antiquius quam vt Operi omni responsione indignissimo aliquod tamen responsum pararemus Quod dum meditamur defertur ad nos Academiae Oxoniensis Apologia certè disertissima quae rationum momentis brevissimè refutaret quicquid ab Istis tanto anteà labore confectum esset aut confictum Qua conspecta nihil nobis reliqui videbatur quos ita anteverterat Fratrū nostrorum in causa optima zelus industria prompta satis parata ad hominum levissimorum ictus omnes vel ex tempore refellendos quàm cum illi pondere certassent argumentorum nos numero quo Isti maxime gloriantur pugnaremus Quod anteà quasi divinantes praevidimus providimus Cum enim defuncta Elizabetha Regina optima in causa optima quod in muliere prope singulare est inauditum semper constantissimâ semper eâdem non tam Principis Religiosissimae interitum religionis si non intereuntis at summè certè periclitantis casum deplorare quam in adventum Regis novi novas res meditari Isti caepissent in dies moliri peropportunè succurrendum censuit Academia convocato senatu frequenti admodum celebri decernendum vt Quicunque Ecclesiae Anglicanae doctrinam vel Disciplinam vel ejus partem aliquam legibus publicis stabilitam scriptis vel dictis

irō That is in their learning to censure him to enioine him penance to excommunicate him yea in case they see cause to proceede against him as a Tyrant We speake not heere of other points as namely that all appeales in causes Ecclesiasticall and what doe they not make Ecclesiasticall must finallie lye not vnto the Prince but vnto the Assembly Provinciall That they allow the supreme Magistrate not potestatem iuris but only facti while they make him the maintainer of their proceedings but no commander in them These and the like are but petty Abridgments of the Praerogatiue Royall while yet the King a T.C. l. 1. pag. 180. submits his scepter vnto the scepter of Christ and lickes the dust of the Churches feete Neither may it be truly said that these are onely Speculations There are some of High place yet alive and other some are dead that haue felte the smarte heereof in their owne experience and haue seene the worst of all this put in wofull execution As to the second Do we not see it at this day verified among them which hath beene so often truly saide as often vnadvisedly denied that Hones alit artes and contrariwise where due reward of learning and liberal maintenance of the Ministery is fraudulently impaired or iniuriously taken away b Ecclesias discipl pag. 114. there Religion and learning come to decay There Atheisme and Barbarisme Confusiō must needes ensue It is to apparent that as the revenewes of those Churches haue bin embeazeled by men of corrupt mindes which saide in their hearts as it is in the Psalme Psal 83.11 Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession so the remainder of that grounded learning which was bredde vp in former times is nowe through succession of time almost cleane morne out Nec bonatam sequitur quam bona prima fuit Insomuch that there is neither sufficient maintenāce in those parts for any store of excellēt learned men nor yet many men brought vp among thē in this last reforming age worthy of that wonted honorable maintenance God knowes we speake not this with a detracting spirit but with griefe of hart to see the ruines of the Ministery in particular generally of al profound learning in other reformed Churches As likewise to stirre vp this whole Nation to a thankefull acknowledgement of that singular blessing in this behalfe which God of his goodnesse hath longe and yet doth continue vnto vs of this Realme And with all to put to silence the malicious ingratitude of those evill men which looking vpon vs and this Church through the coloured glasse of their praeiudicate opiniōs can see nothing among vs but defects deformities and abuses and Enormities and the like And therefore in their high discretion would haue vs reduced made conformable to the calamities of other places Wheras in truth if we shal bring backe the eies of our minds frō forraine parts indifferently without either detractiō or flattery take notice of the presēt state of this Church Cōmō-wealth we shal easily discerne that it were an incomparable happines for them if all that professe the truth as it is in Christ Iesus were in our cōditiō We shal see how that our Church governmēt is duly subordinat vnto the supreme civil state withal doth mightily support the same That our Reverend Prelates mē of singular worth not to be matched in any one kīgdome though preferred vnto highes roomes do yet cōtaine thēselues within such boūds as preserue that estate from creeping to any Papal corruptions That our inferiour Clergy by their godly painful labours in their Vocation haue bin are the most effectuall meanes to settle the tranquillity of this land by inducing mens mindes vnto piety towards God Loyalty to their King Civill honesty amōg thēselues That our people generally excepting some few Malecōtents of al sorts whō wee leaue to the mercy of the Magistrate are invred vnto peace accustomed to subiectiō detest disloyalty with al alacritie yeeld their obedience vnto their Soveraigne That the Colledges the Cathedral Churches the Bishops other Ministers of this Land haue yet remaining vnto thē yet after the many great spoiles of this Church which notwithstanding Saravia de sacrilegijs ca 9. never prospered vvith thē that got thē but were as Rust to the rest of their silver their gold or as a Cāker that fretted out themselues their posterity or their possessiōs that yet there is remaining vnto thē more competent sufficient maintenāce more cōfortable honorable encouragemēts thē there are vnto all other the reformed churches in Christēdōe That answerable thervnto to stop that mouth of Iniquity which is wont to traduce vs for a dumb vnlearned Idoll Ministery there are at this day more learned men in this Land in this one Kingdome then are to be found among al the Ministers of the Religion in France Flaunders Germany Poleland Denmarke Geneva Scotland or to speake in a word in all Europe besides Which yet may not iustly be imputed vnto vs for vanity The Apostle that knew how to be abased 1. Cor. 9. 2 Cor. 12. to make himselfe of no reputation yet whē the impeaching of his personall giftes was abused to the disgrace of his calling did without either arrogācy or folly giue his Detractors plainly roundly to vnderstand that he was not inferior to the chiefe Apostles nay that he labored more thē they al so by his own iust defence cōmendation did free himselfe his worth his Vocation from their base and odious imputations In a like case we doubt not a truth may be averred of our selues even by our selues without any ostentation at all when it is so iniuriously impeached and troden vnder foote to the high dishonor of God the disgrace of his Gospel and to the slander of this most Christian Common-wealth Yea the rich mercies that God hath cōtinued vnto vs now these fiue forty years ought to replenish our harts with ioy so that our lippes should breake forth with thankfulnes and sing Psal 47.20 Non fecit taliter omni nationi neither haue the Regions round about vs beene made partakers of the like blessings Now the Father of Mercies and God of al Consolation enlarge the wise and vnderstanding hart of our thrice noble King noble in birth noble in wisedome noble in al manner of good learning assist him ever with his holy spirit the spirit of Counsaile of sanctificatiō of truth make him admirable in the swaying of this Scepter as was Salomon in al the world as long as hee walked in the first waies of his father David That so hee maye longe weare this mortal Crowne in al abundaunce of Piety Peace Prosperity hereafter obtaine that immortal Crowne that Christ hath purchased for them which by continuance in well doing seeke glory and honour and immortality FINIS