Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
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A59819
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A discourse concerning the nature, unity, and communion of the Catholick Church wherein most of the controversies relating to the church are briefly and plainly stated / by William Sherlock.
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing S3291; ESTC R25626
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35,974
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70
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Church in Heaven into One Body unless this visible Head on Earth be the Head of the invisible Church in Heaven too for if the Unity of the Church consists in being united under One Head that Head must be the Head of the whole Church or else the Church is not united in the Head if the Head which is the principle of Union be not the Head of the whole Now I suppose no Papist will say that the Bishop of Rome is the Head of the invisible as well as of the visible Church and then the Church is not one by being united under the Bishop of Rome tho there are some things which would make one suspect that the Church of Rome did believe the Pope to be the Head of the invisible as well as of the visible Church for if his Authority be confined to the Church on Earth one would wonder whence he should pretend to canozie Saints in Heaven or to release Souls out of Purgatory unless his being Christ's Vicar on Earth makes him his Vicar in Heaven and in Purgatory also but this by the way If they say that when they speake of the Unity of the Church they mean only the Unity of the Church on Earth and that the Pope is the visible Head of this Unity I answer 1. That they must grant then that they speak very improperly for the Church on Earth is not that One Church which is the One Body of Christ and therefore the Unity of the Church does not consist in the Headship of the Pope but they ought only to say that the Unity of the Church on Earth consists in its Union to the Pope 2. And therefore they must quit all their Arguments for the Pope's Headship taken from the Churches being One the One Body of Christ for the Church on Earth is not this One Body of Christ and therefore it does not follow that because Christ has but one Body therefore the Church on Earth must have one visible Head. 3. Nay they must confess that the formal and essential Unity of the Church on Earth does not consist in its Union to the Pope For the Church on Earth is One with the Church in Heaven they being both but One Church and therefore must have the same essential Unity for how they should be one by two sorts of Unity that is be one without the same formal Unity is very mysterious and near a kin to a contradiction And therefore since the Unity of the Church in Heaven does not consist in its Union to the Pope no more does the Unity of the Church on Earth the Unity being the same in both And thus all their Arguments from the Unity of the Church on Earth to prove an Universal Visible Head of the Church are lost too 2ly Nor does the Unity of the Church consist in joyning together in the external and visible Acts of Worship or in maintaining mutual intercourse and correspondence with each other these are Duties which result from Church-Unity when they are practicable as I shall shew more hereafter but the Unity of the Church cannot consist in them for the Church in Heaven and Earth are one without them and so may distant Churches on Earth be one Church without any such visible correspondence 3ly Nor can the Unity of the Church consist in such Articles of Faith as have not always been the Faith of the Christian Church For since the whole Church in all Ages is but One it can have but One Faith and that cannot be the One Faith which has not been the Faith of the whole Church And therefore it is ridiculous to talk of such a Power in the Church of every Age as to make or declare new Articles of Faith unless there be Authority to make a new Church too in every Age but then how the Church should change its Faith in every Age and yet continue one and the same Church is worth inquiry As far as any Church has altered the Faith of the Apostles and Primitive Christians it is become a new Church and a new Church I think is not the same with the old the Unity of the present Church considered as a Church does not consist only in its Unity with it self but with the Church also of former Ages for unless it be one with the Apostolick Churches it cannot be the One Church of Christ and therefore thô all the Christian World should at this Day unite in the Faith and Worship of the Council of Trent it would be as much divided from the One Church of Christ as it differs from the Faith and Worship of the Primitive Church I shall only observe here by the way what a contradiction the Worship of Saints and the Virgin Mary is to the belief of One Church For if the Church in Heaven and in Earth be but One Church then the most glorious Saints in Heaven not excepting the blessed Virgin herself are but Members of the same Body with us which makes it as absurd to Worship them in Heaven as it is for one Member of the same Body on Earth to Worship another for they are the same Body still and thô there is a great difference in honour between the Members of the same Body yet that relation that is between them will not admit of the Worship of any Member For it is no Act of Communion in the same Body for one Member to Worship another To pay Divine Honours to erect Temples and Altars to the greatest Saints advances them above the degree of fellow-Members and if they be not Fellow-Members of the same Body then the Church in Heaven and in Earth is not One Church From whence we may learn who they are who divide the Unity of the Church they who command the Worship of Saints and the Virgin or those who refuse it We believe the Church in Heaven and Earth to be the One Body of Christ and that the most glorious Saints are but Members of the same Body with us and therefore not the Objects of our Worship but of our Brotherly Love and Honour but those who Worship Saints destroy the Unity of Christ's Body by dividing the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven for nothing is more contrary to the sense of Mankind than to Worship those of our own Communion And therefore the natural Interpretation of that Worship they pay to Saints is that they are not Members of the same Body with us but are as much above us as the Object of our Worship is and ought to be 2ly This Notion of Church-Unity that it must include the whole Church from the beginning of Christianity to the end of the World as well that part of it which is already transplanted into Heaven as that which still sojourns on Earth which is all but one Body may direct us wherein to place this Unity of the Church which to be sure can consist in nothing but what belongs to the whole Church any Notion of Unity which does
Spirit which is a state of perfect and absolute subjection to him and therefore can have no Authority to alter the Faith to make a new Creed or a new Gospel which would be to have power over Christ not to be subject to him To be sure unless we will grant this Authority to every particular Christian the Catholick Church cannot have it which is only the whole multitude of particular Christians who are united singly to Christ and made One Body in him and therefore are not such a Body as can make a new Faith and new Laws but are made One Body by embracing the same Faith which they must receive from Christ but have no Authority to make because their receiving this Faith unites them into One Body in Christ and they continue One Body in Christ no longer than they profess this Faith and therefore never can have Authority to change it where a multitude of Men unite themselves into One Body or Civil Society to form and model their own Government and to make Laws for themselves there the whole Authority is in the Community and they may make and alter and repeal Laws as they please but where a Society is formed by a voluntary submission of single and particular Persons to known and stated Laws and no man can be of this Society without submission to these Laws nor continue longer in it than he does submit to them it is a contradiction to say that such a Body of Men have any power over the Laws because it is only their submission to such Laws which make them such a Society The whole Society in this case have no more Authority than a single Man for they are not a Society for Government but for Obedience and Subjection Christ indeed has placed an Authority in his Church for the Instruction and Government of it but an Authority in the Church and the Authority of the Church are two very different things The first signifies the Authority of Christ who is the Head the second is the Authority of the Body which is the Church the Head has Authority over his Church and may appoint what Ministers he pleases to exercise this Authority but the Church has no Authority at all no more than the Body has which is subject to the Head. This may be thought a very nice distinction between the Authority in the Church and the Authority of the Church but it is as useful as it is true For thô the Authority of Christ must be much more sacred and venerable than the Authority of the Church whatever Authority it were supposed to have yet the name of the Catholick Church is thought much more venerable than the name of Bishops thô they are the Ministers of Christ and therefore those who would impose upon the Faith of Christians talk of nothing less than the Authority of the Catholick Church which sounds very big and frights people into a submission While they pretend only the Authority of Christ's Ministers private Christians make bold to examine their Commission and how far their Authority reaches â—d whether they do not prevaricate in the exercise of this Authority as it is possible Ministers may do but the name of the Catholick Church strikes all dead for who dare oppose the Decrees of the Catholick Church which is to condemn the whole Catholick Church of Error or Heresie who dares separate from the Catholick Church which must be an unpardonable Schism and a state of Damnation since it is universally agreed that there is no salvation to be had out of the Catholick Church and thus when a packt Conventicle of Schismaticks and Hereticks usurp to themselves the name of the Catholick Church they impose upon Christians under so venerable a disguise and enslave them to their own Dictates but now all these Amusements vanish when we remember that the Catholick Church has no Authority that whatever the Authority of Bishops in or out of Council be it is not the Authority of the Church but the Authority of Christ and it is not his Authority neither when they exceed their Commission and teach such things as he has given them no Authority to teach and therefore we may reject such a Council of Bishops without condemning the Catholick Church and renounce their communion without separating from the Catholick Church And this very consideration that the Catholick Church has no Authority and therefore cannot innovate in Matters of Faith nor alter the Laws and Institutions of our Saviour is little less than a demonstration that there is no Authority in the Church neither to do it For the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ's Ministers so they are themselves Members of the Catholick Church now as they are Members of the Catholick Church they must receive nothing but what Christ has taught for the Church is founded on the Faith of Christ and has no Authority to alter it Now is it imaginable that Bishops as private Christians and Members of the Catholick Church are obliged to believe nothing but what Christ has taught and yet as Bishops or Christ's Ministers have Authority to teach what Christ has not taught that is that as Bishops they have Authority to teach that which as private Christians they themselves must not believe if they will continue Members of the Catholick Church nay can we imagine that Christ has given Authority to his Ministers to teach that which the Catholick Church must not receive for if the Catholick Church has no Authority it must no more receive new Doctrines than make them I know indeed no body will pretend to an Authority of making new Articles of Faith but only of declaring what the Faith is but this is the very same thing if this Authority of Declaring be such as to oblige all people to believe such Declarations without any Dispute or Examination for then they may make a new Faith under a pretence of declaring the old as we see the Council of Trent has done which has declared such Doctrines as the Christian Church was a stranger to before and there is no difference that I know of between declaring and making an Article of Faith which was neither declared nor made before And therefore Christian Bishops and Pastors have no such Authority either to make or to declare Articles of Faith as can oblige all Christians to believe it meerly upon their Definitions and Declarations It is their Office to Preach the Gospel to convince and perswade gainsayers by Scripture and Reason which obliges all Christians diligently and impartially to attend to their Instructions but yet leaves every man at liberty to judge whether they Preach the Gospel of Christ or their own Inventions 2ly That the Catholick Church has no Authority is evident from this also that it has no visible Tribunal wherein to exercise this Authority For the Catholick Church is nothing else but the whole company or multitude of individual Christians who are all singly united to Christ