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	prove_v	3,145	5	6.1841	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36444	Martyrion Christianon, or, A Christian and sober testimony against sinfull complyance wherein the unlawfulness of hearing the present ministers of England is clearly demonstrated, severall weighty queries proposed, objections impartially weighed in the ballance of the sanctuary and found wanting / by Christophilus Antichristomachus.	Douglas, Thomas, fl. 1661.	1664 (1664)	Wing D2039; ESTC R26734	81,925	102

of the Churches of Vienna and Lyons concerning their Persecution in the Epistle of Clemens or the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth in the Writings of Ignatius Justin Martyr Clemens Tertullian Origen Cyprian and their contemporaries there is not only an utter silence of such a thing but Assertions wholly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and oppsit thereunto Tertullian sayes expresly Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non crubescimus denique sine monitore quia de pectore oramus Apol. cap. 30. The Christians in those dayes he tells us looking towards Heaven not on their Common-Prayer-Books with their hands spread abroad c. prayed to God without a Monitor because from their hearts And in several places he testifies that they praised God in a way of Prayer and Thanksgiving according to their abilities Indeed Claudius de Sainctes and Pamelius two Popish Divines tell us of Lyturgies composed by the Apostles James Peter and Mark Of Peter's and Mark 's Cardinal Bellarmine himself not only takes no particular notice but upon the matter condemns them as supposititious and spurious which that they are is abundantly demonstrated by learned Morney and no more need be added thereunto There are some also fathered upon Basil Chrysostome and Ambrose but as these lived about the years 372 381 382 in which time many corruptions had crept into the Churches of Christ so the spuriousness thereof as being falsly fathered upon the persons whose names they bear may easily be demonstrated 'T is already done to our hands by learned Morney in his Book De Missâ l. 1. chap. 6. Durantus himself the great Lyturgy-munger acknowledges That neither Christ nor his Apostles used any prescribed Forms but the Lords Prayer and the Creed that they used these he sayes but proves not nor will it ever be proved to the worlds end That about the year 380. Theodosius the Church being rent by Heresies intreated Pope Damasus at whose election though the contest was betwixt him and Ursinus a Deacon of the Church there were not fewer than one hundred thirty seven persons slain that some Ecclesiastical Office might be made which was accordingly done by Hierome and approved by Pope Damasus and made a Rule The unlikelihood of this latter part of the Story is manifest Theodosius was too well acquainted with the Spirit of Prayer than to go about any such thing had he judged it necessary having assembled the great Council of Constantinople wherein were not less than an hundred and fifty persons convened Is it probable this good man Theodosius would in so momentous a concern rather consult with one single person than such an Assembly as were by his Authority met together and yet should this be granted it would not from hence appear that at this time there was any Lyturgy devised and imposed all that is pretended to be done by Hierome was the appointing an Order for the reading of the Scriptures which is another thing to the imposition of Forms of Prayer in Worship There is one passage in Socrates his Ecclesiastical History l. 5. c. 21. who lived about the year 430. that carrying an undeniable evidence with it that at that time there were no Lyturgies we cannot pass over in silence 't is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein he tells us that among all the Christians in that age scarce two were to be found that used the same words in Prayer Not to tire the Reader in this disquisition Though one part of the Lyturgy was not long after introduced by one Pope and another part by another yet till Gregories time who to the honour of Lyturgies be it spoken was the very worst of all the Bishops of Rome that preceded him viz. about the year 600. was there any considerable use or any imposing of them Yea till the time of Pope Hadrian which was about the year 800. was it not as I find by publick Authority imposed Then indeed the Emperour Charles the Great being moved thereunto by the foresaid Hadrian by his Civil Authority commands the use of a Lyturgy viz. Gregories Lyturgy as is thought to which he compels his Ministers by Threats and Punishments the usual attendancies and support of Lyturgyes ever since their production in the world The sum is That in as much as first it cannot be proved the contrary being most manifest in the Scripture that any Lyturgy was enjoyned by Christ or his Apostles or in use in the first Churches planted by them 2dly It is evident that for the first four hundred years and more after Christ there was no Lyturgy framed nor any by solemn Authority imposed to the year eight hundred it follows undeniably from hence That to worship God in the way of a Lyturgy or stinted Forms of Prayer is to worship him in a way that is not of his appointment To which we adde 2. That Worship which is an obstruction of any positive duty charged by Christ to be performed by the Saints is not a Worship that is of his appointment But this is undeniably true of the Common-Prayer-Book-Worship Therefore That Christ did upon his Ascention give unto his Church Officers as signal characters of his Love to and Care of it will not be denied Ephes 4. 11. is an evidence hereof beyond exception That to these Officers He gave Gifts and Qualifications every way suiting the imployment which he call'd them forth unto cannot without a most horrid advance against the Wisdome Faithfulness Love and Care of Christ towards the Beloved of his Soul be gainsayed That be not onely expects but solemnly charges upon these Officers an improvement of the Gifts bestowed upon them for the edification of his Body is evidently comprized and very frequently remarked in the Scripture 2 Tim. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 7. Ephes 4. 11. Prov. 17. 16. Luke 19. 20. To imagin after all this that any Worship should be of the institution of Christ that should shut out of doors as unnecessary the exercise of the Gifts given by him to be made use of in the solemn discharge of the Worship of his House is such an imputation of folly to him as may not be charged upon any person of an ordinary capacity or understanding Yet this is righteously to be imputed to him absit Blasphemia if the Common-Prayer-Book-Worship be a Worship of his appointment The exercise of the Gift of Prayer to mention no more being wholly excluded hereby Nor will it in the least take off the weight of this Argument to say that liberty is granted for the exercise of this Gift before and after Sermon For 1. The whole Worship of God may according to these mens principles be discharged without any Sermon at all and its manifest it is frequently so at one time or other in most of the Assemblies of England 2. Those their Prayers are also bounded and limited by the 55th Canon of the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical 3. We had alwayes thought

Institutions of Worship that never came into his heart are flatly against his Appointments as hath been proved 4. One Head in subordination to another doth as really make the Body a Monster as two heads conjoyned If it be said Obj. 2. That the Kings of Israel were the Heads successively of th● then Church and therefore a visible Headship over the Churches of Christ in the New-Testament is lawful We answer 1. That betwixt the Oeconomy of the Law and Gospel there is a vast disproportion many things were lawful in that day which to do or subject to now were no less than a denial of Christ come in the flesh 2. The Kings of Israel were Types of Christ 3. That the Kings of Israel were Heads of the Church is false God was its alone Head and King Hence their Historian saith their Government was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when they would needs choose a King God said they rejected him to whom even as to their Political Head a Sicle was paid yearly as a Tribute called The Sicle of the Sanctuary True indeed as they were a Political Body they had visible Political Governours who when they ceased their Polity was at an end but that these had any Headship over them to make any Laws introduce Constitutions of their own framing in matters relating to Worship will never be proved CHAP. VI. A fifth Argument against hearing of the present Ministers of England advanced That they have the characters of false Prophets upon them manifested in 15 Particulars Argument 5. THose who have the characters and properties of false Prophets and Priests upon them are not to be heard but separated from But the present Ministers of England have the characters and properties of false Prophets and Priests upon them Therefore The major or first Proposition stands upon too firm a basis to be quickly removed nor will any attempt so to do Christ having charged his to beware of such Mat 7. 15. to take heed that none deceive them Mat. 24. 4 5 23 24 25. not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits because many false Prophets are gone out in the world 1 Joh. 4. 1. not to receive such into their houses 2 John 10 11. to watch against them Act. 20. 29 30 31. with much more that might be said if needful for its confirmation is a sufficient evidence of the truth thereof But herein the parties litigant are at a perfect agreement 'T is the minor Proposition that is iudged by some to come short of a sufficient substraction viz. That the present Ministers of England have the properties and characters of false Prophets and Priests upon them This we doubt not by a serious observation of the characters are given of such in the Scriptures by the Holy-Ghost will to any ordinary understanding be made exceeding perspicuous and evident The signal Characters of whom are 1. That they run before they are sent Jer. 23. 21. That a Mission from the Lord is of the essence of a lawful Ministry that whoever wants such a Mission is no Officer of Christ but a false Prophet and Minister of Antichrist may hence rationally at least by way of analogy be deduced is evident Which also exactly accords with what is asserted by the Apostle Rom. 10. 15. That the present Ministers of England want such a Mission hath already been demonstrated and we shall not actum agere In a word when it shall be proved that they have received their Authority from Christ either immediatly or mediatly from any rightly constituted Church of Christ or by succession from the Church in the Wilderness we shall acknowledge them to be the Ministers of Christ and look upon our selves as obliged to pay them all the honour and duty that as such we are charged in Scripture to do But if they have nothing else to plead for themselves but what is usually instanced in by them a succession from the Church of Rome That Apostate Church having lost her Churchship and therewith all lawful power for the sending forth Officers into the Churches of Christ we shall not fear to say That they are such as are characterized here by the Prophet persons that run before they are sent 2. That they commit Adultery and walk in Lies Jer. 23. 14. Which none as I ever yet met with interpret literally of corporal Whoredome and Adultery but mystically of spirituall Adultery a departure from the pure Wayes and Institutions of the Lord in Worship to the * In an old Translation of the New-Testament dedicated to Edward the 6th the Author thereof in his Notes on Mat. 21. says They which in their Ministry and Preaching do otherwise than God hath commanded them are no true Disciples of Christ Devices Inventions of men a sin usually in the Scripture expressed for the nature and greatness of it under that notion Jer. 3. 8. Ezek. 23. 37. Rev. 2. 22. which is also in Scripture called a Lye Isa 28. 15. Amos 2. 4. John 8. 44. The whole Worship of Antichrist being patch'd up with such dirty Inventions is so called 2 Thess 2. 11. That this character also doth rightly appertain unto the present Ministers of England the best of whom do in the sence of the Spirit in the forecited Scripture commit Adultery and walk in lies hath already been proved and more hereunto shall afterwards be spoken 't were well if upon some of them it had not a literal accomplishment which of the Institutions of Christ have they not mixed with their inventions From how many have they gone a whoring Is not a great part of their Worship drops of the Whores Cup of Fornication and shreds of the great lye of Antichrist who that hath soberly and unbiassedly considered of these things but must acknowledge it 3. That they strengthen the hands of evil-doers that none doth return from his wickedness Jer. 23. 14. That the present Ministers of England really do so is capable of an ocular demonstration perhaps they do in their Sermons reprove sin thunder out the Judgments of God against transgressors of his Law as much as any but alas what is this to condemn them in the state wherein they stand without-repentance to the pit of Hell in the Pulpit and by and by to Saint them in the Chancel and tell them there without exception that the Body of Christ was broken for them his Blood shed for them Oh how many millions of souls are and have been hereby hardened to their own undoing and had their hands strengthened in wickedness what should I mention their admission of the Children of all to Baptism without exception their owning them as Church-members yea die they never so wickedly as Brethren of whose joyful Resurrection they profess they have a sure and certain hope thereby proclaiming their undoubted perswasion that they are a People in covenant with God not to take notice of the terrible reflections and uncharitable censures are publickly by them past upon

according to the VVord of God and swear to a Worship that is meerly of humane devising that have nothing of the essentials of a Ministry of Christ to be found upon them may be accounted of as his Ministers and be adhered to 15. VVhether such as shall so do be not guilty of casting contempt upon the Institutions of Christ and disobedience against his Royal Edicts commanding them to separate from persons of such a complection To which many others of the like nature might be added CHAP. X. Arguments for the lawfulness of hearing the present Ministers of England 1. From the supposed Precept of Christ Mat. 23. 1. whether the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23. 1. were Magistrates or Ministers debated If Ministers that their Office and Calling was lawful proved That Christ neither commands nor permits his Disciples to hear them proved 2. From the practice of Christ and his Apostles 3. From Phil. 1. 15. 4. From their preaching truth 5. From Judas his preaching 6. From their being good men 7. From the practice of Learned and Good men in former dayes and now 8. From the Magistrates command 9. From the pretended Plea of their being true Ministers because they convert souls 10. From persons not knowing whither to go to hear Fully answered HAving hitherto been upon the confirmation of the Truth asserted by us viz. That 't is not lawful for Saints to hear the present Ministers of England we come now to consider what is in this matter objected by our dissenting Brethren This is that they say Object 1. Christ commands or at least permits his Disciples to hear the Scribes and Pharisees who were men as corrupt in their Doctrine as vitious in their lives as the present Ministers of England can be supposed to be Mat. 23. 1 2. Therefore it is lawful to hear these Answ This being the main Objection used by our dissenting Brethren in this day as it was by others in times past their very Achilles in this controversie we shall speak the more largely to it Many things are supposed by the Objectors and taken for granted and must be so by all that judge any weight to be in what is from this supposed command of Christ argued which they will never be able to prove and yet are the very basis upon which the stress of the Objection lies As 1. 'T is supposed that the Scribes and Pharisees here spoken of were in the Ministerial Seat Teachers and Expounders of the Law which at first view seems to be a difficult task for any to demonstrate That some of the Scribes and Pharisees which were particular Sects among the Jews as is known were so cannot be denied that these here mentioned by our Saviour are such is not so evident They are expresly said to sit in Moses Seat not Aarons who though he were of the Tribe of Levi yet was not the Ministerial but Magistratical Seat committed unto him To the Posterity of Aaron did the Office of Priesthood appertain as is known to all that have but in the least turned aside to consider of this affair nor is it altogether frivolous that is by some observed That these Scribes and Pharisees are especially charged with the omission of Judgment and Mercy things most nearly relating unto the Office of Magistracy to whom it doth especially appertain to look thereunto Now will it in the least follow That supposing Christ enjoyned his Disciples to attend upon the Scribes and Pharisees acting as Magistrates and conform to what is justly and righteously prescribed by them as such That therefore it 's lawful to attend upon the present Ministers of England But let this be granted Suppose 2. The Scribes and Pharisees to be the Preachers and Expounders of the Law in that day the Seat mentioned to be a Ministerial Seat yet this will not at all help them in the matter in controversie except it be granted to them that the Scribes and Pharisees were not a lawful but a false Ministry that had surreptitiously climbed up into this Ministerial Seat for who sees not the invalidity and nothingness of this Argument 'T was lawful to hear the Scribes and Pharisees which were the lawful Church-Officers of that day of the appointment of the Lord acting by vertue of an Authority derived from him Therefore 't is lawful to hear persons that have not any such Authority from Christ but are meer Intruders and Ministers of Antichrist as the present Ministers of England have been proved to be Now this upon that supposition that they were Ministers we cannot yeild for these Reasons 1. The Pharisees are expresly said to be Priests and Levits John 1. 19. and this is the record of John when the Jews sent Priests and Levits from Jerusalem to ask him Who art thou ver 24. And they that were sent were of the Pharisees which were the ordinary lawful Ministers of that day 2. These of all others were most apt to question the Authority of such as taught the People So when John appears Preaching and Baptizing and professes to them that he was not the Christ nor Elias nor Prophet who was expected by the People of the Jews they immediatly question his Authority John 1. 25. Why baptizest thou then which they could not be supposed to have the face to do if they themselves of all others had been the greatest Intruders Nay 3. When they question Christ himself about his Authority he asks not them From whence they had theirs which doubtless upon that occasion he would have done had they not been lawfully seated in the Seat they did possess but from whence John had his who was esteemed as a Prophet 4. We have the Lord Jesus many times crying out above all others against the Pharisees condemning them of Pride Hypocrisie Avarice c. but not the least tittle of the usurpation of Moses-seat is by him charged upon them or in the least intimated which doubtless would have been had they been guilty thereof But let this also be granted that we may hear this Argument speak its uttermost The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat this Seat is a Ministerial Seat and they sit not here by vertue of any lawful Authority but are meer intruders what follows from hence why this if it were lawful to hear the Scribes and Pharisees persons vitious in their lives corrupt in their doctrine having no lawful call to the place they possessed then it undeniably follows that it 's lawful to hear the present Ministers of England though they have no lawful Authority or Call to the Office they assume It must it seems then 3dly be granted that when Christ sayes What they say unto you do he is to be interpreted to command or at least to permit an attendance upon their Ministry But this is that we deny and dare confidently aver That it never entered into the heart of Christ to permit much less to command any to attend upon the Ministry of the Scribes and Pharisees Nor