Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	bishop_n	canon_n	church_n	3,791	5	4.3901	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34757	The country-parson's advice to his parishioners in two parts ...		1680 (1680)	Wing C6566; ESTC R15994	99,699	230

whose office it is to take Care of Souls And those that are ready to follow the Conduct and Counsel of every one that will take upon him to be their Guide or Instructor are not much less to be blamed than those that will commit their Souls to none and therefore thou art to take the greatest Care and to use the best Skill thou hast in the choice of thy Guide and because it is a matter of no little difficulty to make a right Choice it will not I hope be thought impertinent to give thee some assistance And 1. I advise thee to betake thy self to thy Closet and to beg of God to direct thee in thy Choice Though thou hast ever so much Skill in judging of men yet it is possible that in this Case thou may'st be deceived and the more thou trustest to thy own Skill the greater danger thou art in of being deceived God usually suffering those that have a great opinion of themselves to misearry in their best Undertakings and therefore in this as well as in other things thy security lies in an humble Confidence in God's direction which thou art to beg of him by fervent Prayer and though the Blessing be great yet thou hast no Reason to doubt but thou shalt obtain it if thou do'st ask aright for since he hath done so much for thy Soul already He will not deny thee any thing thou may'st be confident that he knows to be necessary for its Welfare and Happiness If any of you lack Wisdome saith St. James let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him chap. 1. v. 5. And what greater Wisdome can'st thou desire than that which may enable thee to chuse to good Guide except it be that which may enable thee to follow him when thou hast made Choice of him which thou art also to ask to God But then 2. Though thou must not confide in thy own Skill but in the Assistance and Direction of Almighty God yet since his Assistance and Direction can be expected only in a rational way it will behove thee to make Use of that Skill which God giveth thee and that with as much Care as if thy Success depended altogether upon it This in other matters thou thinkest thy self bound to do and I can see no Reason why thou shouldest not be of the same Mind in this Case Thou must therefore look out into the World and consider who among those Guides of Souls that are known to thee is most fit to be trusted and if thou do'st desire the opinion of some serious and discreet Friends as thou art wont to do when thou needest a Physitian for thy Body or a Lawyer for settling thy Estate I think thou wilt do very well only let me caution thee That thou do not presume to make Judgment of any one with whom thou art not throughly acquainted for otherwise though it is possible thou may'st hit right yet it is two to one that thou wilt be deceived which will be a fault that will admit of no Excuse And the same caution thou art to take in receiving the judgments of others which thou wilt not think to be needless if thou do'st consider That as some few have a better Repute in the World than they do deserve so others have a worse and it is commonly observed that many excellent men have suffered very much from many meerly because they have given Credit to the Reports of those who were never intimately acquainted with them and yet have presumed to pass their Censures on them But to help thee as much as I can in this matter which is really of very greato Importance to thee it will not be amiss to give thee a short Account of the Qualifications and Properties of a good Guide referring thee for further Instruction to the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus And 1. A good Guide is one that hath received Authority from Christ to take Care of Souls not immediately from Christ but mediately i.e. by imposition of hands from some Bishop of the Church who in a constant Succession from the Apostles of our Lord had Authority to give it As for those that pretend to derive Authority immediately from Christ thou must look upon them as Impostors till they can shew those Testimonials of their Authority which the Apostles did viz. the Gifts of Tongues and Miracles and if their Learning and seeming Piety should chance to incline thee to believe otherwise of them it behoves thee to cal to Mind that Caution which Christ hath given thee Matth. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps-Cloathing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves And as for those that pretend to Authority derived by the hands of some of the Inferiour Ministers in the Church which are now and have been for many hundred years called Presbyters and by that name distinguished from Bishops thou may'st upon the same grounds on which thou hast received thy Christianity believe them to pretend to that which they have not for it is certain by unquestionable Records that for above fifteen hundred years there was no such Authority allowed or acknowledged in Presbyters by the Church of Christ and as for those in this last Age that did first pretend to this Authority and did take upon them to confer it upon others by imposition of their hands it is certain that all the Authority they had or could confer they received from Bishops which was only an Authority to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments according to the Rules of the Gospel the Canons of the Church and this in Subordination to their Bishops and not an Authority to ordain others in opposition to their Bishops and therefore if it be true That none can give that which they have not to give and that none can be presumed to have received that which was never given them as certainly it is thou hast great reason to believe that those persons whom I now speak of have no Authority from Christ to take care of Souls And then in the last place for those that call themselves the Ministers of Christ and pretend to have been so by the declared Consent of a small number of people combined together under the name of a Church thou mayest believe them to be what they call themselves when they can prove That the Apostles of our Lord were the peoples Ministers and not Christ's I mean That they did receive their Authority from the People and not from Christ Now if these men have no Authority from Christ they have no Promise of Christ's presence assistance and Blessing in those Exercises they take upon them to perform in his Name and if they have no Promise of Christ's Presence or Blessing thou hast no Reason to give up thy self to their Conduct Thou may'st perhaps hear them speak many good things of themselves and their followers and make great

Boast of the Spirit of Christ but when thou hast impartially considered the Heresies Schisms Seditions Tumults Rebellions Murders Rapines Perjuries which they have been the Authors and Promoters of thou wilt know how to judge of their great Boasts and Godly Pretensions By these their truits thou may'st know them I say no more nor indeed should I have said so much but that the Disorders of the Age do make it necessary to give thee some little Caution 2. A good Guide is a man of Knowledge He is able to teach thee as much as thou art bound to believe and Practise his lips preserve knowledg and his tongue can shew thee right things He cannot be a good Guide to others that has need of a Guide himself If the blind lead the blind both will fall into the Ditch Matth. 15.14 3. He is a man of prudence and discretion which appears both by his conversation and in the Exercise of his Ministry fitting his instructions to the Necessities and Capacities of his people He poures not new wine into old Bottles He feeds not Children with strong meat and strong men with milk He provides for every one what is fitting for him and that in due Season Indiscretion does oftentimes as much mischief as the grossest Ignorance 4. He is humble meek and peaceable So was the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls He was no Lordly domineering person no breaker of the Peace of the World or Overturner of Governments but was a Servant unto all even to the meanest of the people he pleased not himself but others for their Good and submitted himself patiently and quietly to the Authority of the Chief Priests and of the Roman Emperour 5. He is very grave and serious not out of Soureness or Sullenness of Humor but from a real sense of the Sacredness of his Office the Worth of Souls and the Account he must give of them It is said of a devout man that when some desired him to give them a certain Mark by which they might know a man to be truly Spiritual He answered them in this manner if ye see any one that takes delight in the common Sportings and Jestings the Ralleries and Drolleries of the World that cannot patiently suffer Contempt and Reproach take heed that you believe not that man to be Spiritual though you should see him work miracles This good man was undoubtedly in the right and I think lie had not been mistaken if he had omitted the latter part concerning the Not suffering Contempt and given the affectation of Wit and Drollery for a sufficient Mark of a very imperfect Christian however it may serve for a Mark to discover a bad Guide for if every Christian should be a serious persono because Christ was so the Ambassadours of Christ should be much more so their Deportment should be such as may awe the men they do converse with and in a silent way deter them from their Sins and their persons should speak what the Statue of Senacherib is said to have done He who looketh to me let him be Religious But though a good Guide be thus grave and serious yet he is not Crabbed Morose or Cynical but 6. Affable and Courteous and of Sweet and Winning Conversation he disdains not to converse with the meanest People and that freely and cheerfully too nor to conform himself to all the innocent Customes of the World so far as consists with the Sacredness of his Office and the Decorum of his Person having a due Respect to those he becomes all things to all men and though his Gravity shews him to be an Enemy to their Sins yet his innocent and cheerful Complyances shew him to be a Lover of their Persons There was never any person more remarkable for this than our blessed Saviour who though his gravity was such that he was never seen to laugh as we know of yet was he of so sweet and benign a Temper and so courteous and complyant in all his Carriage and Conversation that none were ever offended at it to his example does every good Guide of Souls conform himself in this as well as in other things 7. He is a man of Courage he fears not the Faces of the greatest persons upon Earth nor is discouraged in the doing of his Duty by the Thoughts of their displeasure He is another John the Baptist in this Respect who was not afraid to tell the Tyrant Herod That it was not lawful for him to have his Brother's Wife Mar. 16.18 And like St. Paul he can be contented if God will have it so not only to be bound but to dye for the Name of the Lord Jesus Act. 21.13 8. He is wholly devoted to the Work that Christ hath appointed him to do it is his only Business and sole Care and as Christ said of himself that it was his Meat and Drink to do the Will of his Father so 't is his to do the Will of Christ in taking Care for Souls he is no Plodder for the World no Seeker of the Fleece no Hunter after preferment these Worldly things are as Dross and Dung to him and he will not sell poor Souls for such Gains 9. He is a great Lover of Souls and of much tenderness and Compassion towards them he will do any thing yea suffer any thing for their Good and lay down his Life if need be for their sakes he is grieved for their miscarriages more than for all worldly things as Christ was grieved for the hardness of men hearts and is better pleased with their well doing than by the greatest earthly Prosperity they are his joy and Crown that do well by his Ministry he thinks no Honour greater and knows no greater joy Lastly He is a man of a Holy Life his Example teaches us as much as his tongue and he is a pattern for his People to walk by His Conversation is in Heaven and he can boldly call upon men to be Followers of him and to walk as they have him for an Example Though he is not without his Failings and Imperfections as he is Flesh and Blood yet no Crimes or gross Sins nor any Indulgeing or Allowing of himself in the least can the sharpest and most malicious Eye behold in him Thus have I given thee a short account of the Qualifications of a good Guide Such a Guide thou may'st boldly commit thy Soul to and if thou wilt follow his Directions he will keep thee through the Grace of God from all things hurtful and lead thee into all things profitable for thy Salvation But there is one thing That I am concerned in this place to mind thee of viz. That if the Curate of the Parish wherein thou livest be thus qualified thou hast a Guide provided for thee and thou must seek no further for he hath the Charge of thy Soul committed to him by God and he must give an account of it to God which because he cannot do if another have the