Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	apostle_n	church_n	particular_a	2,274	5	6.8998	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59764	The excellence of the order of the Church of England, under Episcopal government set forth in a sermon at the visitation at Blandford, Anno 1640 / by William Sherley ...	Sherley, William.	1662 (1662)	Wing S3240; ESTC R21422	23,064	42

the Text it is not one I that comes and another I that puts in Order but it being the same I in both it 's the same numerical St. Paul that divides himself between both these acts And indeed many are the Orders which we finde St. Paul to have made for the Meridian of the Church of Corinth divers whereof are to be read in the preceding Verses of this present Chapter all which he enacted to make use of a distinction which he himself so much harps on in the 7th Chapter of this Epistle not by commandment and as from the Lord but by permission and as from himself giving herein his Judgement as one that had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful Wherein that I may not be thought to have delivered any private Opinion of mine own know that you have all this warranted unto you under the hands of the deservedly Honored Angel of the Church of Sarum Bishop Davenant de Jud Controv cap. 16. Apostoli saith he quatenus erant ordinarii Ecclesiae Rectores de hisce ritibus externis pro suâ sapientiâ statuebant quod ad adificationem Ecclesiae facere videbatur The Apostles as they were ordinary Governors of the Church prescribed as concerning outward Rites such things which they in their Wisdom thought to make most for Edification which Words are in that incomparable Work of his De Judice Controver siarum Cap. 16. Rat. 2a. So that my Text being thus opened affords us in this place such a parcel of Divine Truth as this namely That the Authority of making Orders whereby to govern each particular Church is a Prerogative which those that sit at the Stern thereof may rightly challenge St. Paul you see after an ordinary way did it here in the Church of Corinth and therefore those that are his Successors in the like condition may lawfully assume to themselves the like employment A Doctrine of that Evidence and Consequence both together as that this Church of ours in those few Articles of Hers which She hath published hath thought it in Her Wisdom meet See the Book of the 39 Articles to avouch it no less then twice in two several Articles Article the 20th and the 34th Nay before ever that Book of Hers saw light those great Reformers under King Edward the sixth concluded as much which too was done with that measure of zeal Fox in his Book of Acts and Mon. as that Bishop Bonner was enjoyned by the Kings Councel to Preach at Pauls-Cross this Doctrine my Authority for both these is Fox in his Acts and Monuments 2º Edvardisexti Neither hath it been given to Men of this Climat onely to be of this Opinion since those Reformed Churches that have been beyond the Seas have herein yielded unto us the right Hand of Fellowship Witness the Confession of the Reformed Church of France Ext●t haec confessio apud Calvinum lib. opuscul published in the Year 1562. Fatemur saith She tum omnes tum singulas Ecclesias hoc jus habere ut leges statuta sibi condant ad Politiam communem inter suos statuendam Witness likewise the consent of the Lutheran Divines set down in that Auspurge Confession whereof Melancton was the Contriver whose words much to the same purpose are Licet Episcopis Pastoribus Canones constituere Ausourg Coufess art ult ut singula in Ecclesia siant secundum Ordinem Nay Reverend Calvin however conceived by some to be none so the greatest Friends which the Church ever had stickles nevertheless so earnestly for this in the 4th of his Institutions and the 10th Chapter as that those who shall cast an eye one what he there hath written cannot but judge him to be very zealous for it Niether ought it to be conceived that these Sons of the Church in honour of their Mother have endeavoured herein to flatter her into a greater Priviledge then that which by right belongs to her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil lib. de Spiritu quinto cap. 27. is an ancient distinction made heretofore by St Basil Predications and matters of Faith are one thing and Placits or matters of Order another For so is the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there as I conceive to be understood the word Ceremony being not of so ancient a standing in the Church as to be found in the writings either of the Greek or of the Latine Fathers St Austin in his Retractations Austin l. 2. Ret. c. 37. makes in his owne behalf an Apologie for that it once dropp'd unawares from his Pen. And however the Church of Rome dare extend her Commission so far as in respect of the former of these to make new Creeds for so Pope Pius the fourth did and to blot out one of the Commandements of the Decalogue for that it gain-sayes those Images which they are resolved to set up and worship Nos vero talem non habemus Consuetudinem we have no such custome nor the Church of God we cannot find in our hearts for to be so cruell as for the satisfying of our owne causelesse Fancies to mangle thus the body of Religion which our Fore-fathers to the least Tittle therof have even with the losse of their owne blood preserved entire All the Power which we assume to our selves is only about the outward dress and attire of the Churh in causing that to be suitable always to her Condition This being a liberty which in all ages hath so far been Challenged as that a great part of that apparell it self wherewith the Apostles thought fit to cloath Her within a Century or two grew to be cast off and antiquated insomuch that the Holy Kisse the Feasts of Charity Abstinence from things strangled the imploying of Widdows in Ecclesiasticall Services with the like however Orders all of the Apostles owne Composing in some short time came for to be difused Wheras we read likewise of St. Ambrose Vid. Ludo. Viv. in Aug. de Civit. dei l. 6. c 26. that in his owne Church at Millaine abrogated an old Order which they had of Feasting at the Tombes of the Martyrs in regard the People in his time made it an occasion to draw on drunkennesse Nay however Trina Mersio the threefold dipping in the Sacrament of Baptisme was at the first established upon no meaner a Ground then for signification of the Three Persons in the Blessed Trinity yet by reason the Arians took the advantage thereof to countenance their Heresie Binius Con. cil Tolet. Can. 5 to the Fourth Toletan Councell blotted that Order out of the Rubrick And why may not the Church still be Mistress of so much Power as to do the like as long as those Sonnes of Heirs who are set for to rule are engaged in the Action whereas if every Private Member should be suffered to have therin a Finger how might we then in time look to have as many Editions of Service-books as there is of Almanacks

raised a Question Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 9. c. 15. whether or no in case Adam had not faln there should have been a Sub and a Supra any Subordinations at all in the Societies of Men and seems likewise to incline to the Negative for that the very first time we meet in Scripture with the word Servant which too according to the forecited Fathers observation is in the 9th of Gen. and the 25th it being there spoken by way of a Curse he from thence collects that Nomen istud Culpa Meruit non Natura Sin alone and not Nature gave a Being unto that Condition Yet for certain ever since the Fall as matters have stood without an orderly Series of Men wherein as in a Predicament some may be Summa Genera above others Species Infimae beneath and a third between both Genera subalterna there can be no subsisting for any one Society whatsoever This being so necessary for all Common-wealths as that without this so many Men being but as so much confused Rubbish or like a multitude of Stones lying in an heap together come to be without any benefit at all each of other whereas being once disposed of to such divers uses and several places as they by their education have been fitted for they then may make not an handsome onely but a good serviceable piece of Building And if it be thus in the State then doubtless must it be more then so in the Church She having ever been esteemed an Hierarchy whose Members ought in that manner to be ranked and sorted into higher and lower Classes as that hereupon upon at the 6th of the Canticles and the 4th she is likened to an Army with Banners nay however an Army having once displayed her Banners and going on upon a March be a great Desciple and Servant unto Order yet is it conceived by St. Chrysostome Chrysost 10 Hom. in 1 Ep. ad Thess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Church in Her Discipline is and ought to be more precise and regular then the Field Military is in its For hence Beloved came it here to pass that my Apostle Saint Paul having planted now a Church in Corinth suffers not those Elders whom he had there ordained to be their own Bishops or reciprocally and by turn as it were to be Governors each to other but knowing that in the Church especially nothing could be more unequal then such an equality He therefore holds in his own hands the reigns of Government he himself reserves unto himself Episcopal Jurisdiction which too he did not onely exercise for that year and half alone mentioned in the 18 h of the Acts and the 11th that he lived amongst them all which time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word used there by the Holy Ghost in the Orignal is most observable he sate there and governed as a Bishop in his Cathedral but being once removed and absent he grew even in this respect the bolder towards them whilst in this very Epistle at the 4th Chapter and the 21 Verse he threatens them a whipping with his Apostolical Rod at the 5th Chapter and the 5th Verse he sends out a thundring Excommunication against the Incestuous Person at the 11th Chapter and the 2d Verse he constitutes Canons and Ordinances whereas at the sixteenth Chapter and the first Verse he enacts a special Edict for the observation of them Nay finally that it might appear that he was not wanting in any one particular that might declare him to be their Bishop he acquaints them here in the Text that for the Ordering of all such matters as in that Church of theirs were yet out of Order he himself would come and visit them and who is there but will acknowledge that without all contradiction the less ever hath thus been visited by the greater So that if we lay all together and adde to this his visiting here those other Episcopal Acts of his but now spoken off which he did otherwhere and then however that illiterate ignorant Scotchman for before so Learned an Assembly as this Scoti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paraclesis contra Pan. Tileni Paraenesin to whom now I speak the Author otherwise then so is not worth a naming hath in a jeer as silly altogether as himself been pleased to snear it out that Profecto Paulus fuit Pessimus Dominus Episcopus Verily Paul was but an ill Lord Bishop yet will it hereby appear that Saint Paul for however the Man for fear of Idolatry dur'st not bestow the Saint on the Apostle yet Religion hath taught us better manners then not to do it that I say even Saint Paul himself did in his Authority Lord it as much as any of those our Reverend Prelates whom he out of the depth of his ignorance can by no means fancy Neither ought it to be conceived as a Marvel that my Apostle so early now at the first erects this kinde of Church-Government amongst the Clergy here at Corinth since as if this were in a manner natural and essential to her the Church seldom or never hath anciently been observed to have stood without it Thus in the old Testament we finde that amongst the Jews there were not onely Priests and Levites but an High-Priest also who was even then so lively an Emblem of Episcopacy as that hereupon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Summus Sacerdos have since familiarly been used in the Writings of the Ancients no otherwise then as Synonoma's with the word Bishop Whereas in the New it is to be read that our blessed Savior whom Ignatius is not afraid to call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes Tertull. l. 4. cōtra Mar. c. 35. and after him too Tertullian Authenticum Dei Patris Pontificem all other Bishops being as it should seem but Copies onely taken from him like one of that Order licenceth the Twelve together with the Seventy to Preach the Gospel until at last immediately before his ascension lifting up his hands and blessing the Apostles Luke 24.51 Aug. 97. quaest de Novo Test Per istam manuum impositionem as St. Austin seems to believe Apostolos ordinavit Episcopos By that laying of his hands upon the Apostles he ordained them to be Bishops Sure I am that Antiquity thought it no prejudice at all to the Apostles to have this Opinion of them and therefore Theodoret. l. 4. c. 18. Basil Cyprian Ep. 65. Hierom ad Marcellum as the Greek Fathers were wont to call Episcopal Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So likewise who knows not but that it is as usual with the Latine to stile the Apostles themselves in plain terms Bishops as having no meaner authority for this then that of St. Peters own example who in Acts 1.20 speaking of Judas his Apostleship calls it there by no other name then by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Bishoprick But though Episcopacy lived in these Renowned Worthies yet may