Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	ecclesiastical_a	jurisdiction_n	spiritual_a	4,670	5	7.0518	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43631	The naked truth. The second part in several inquiries concerning the canons and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, canonical obedience, convocations, procurations, synodals and visitations : also of the Church of England and church-wardens and the oath of church-wardens and of sacriledge.	Hickeringill, Edmund, 1631-1708.	1681 (1681)	Wing H1822; ESTC R43249	69,524	40

Provincial and Synodal heretofore made and such as they judg'd worthy to be continued should from thenceforth be kept and obeyed But I never heard that these Commissioners did ever do any thing to the purpose Yet this Power of granting Commissions and Authority of this nature was by 1 Eliz. 1. for ever united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm and upon this Statute and foundation was built the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Court and the Authority of all Canon-makers Synodical But down came the Fabrick by repealing 1. Eliz. 1. in 17 Car. 1.11 and also in and by 13 Car. 2.12 By which last Statute that unreasonable Oath also ex Officio by vertue whereof the Spiritual Courts if a man had lain with a Wench or a Wife had plaid foul play if examined by every little Surrogate and Register must either be their own accusers or by Perjury damn themselves was abrogated also and taken away together with that same choaking c. Oath and for company all the Fraternity thereof and Fellow canons of 1640 and Provision made by striking at the foundation 1 Eliz. 1. on which their High-Commission Courts were built that no more Commissions be granted by his Majesty for the future but the Spiritual-Courts by that Statute of 13 Car. 2.12 just in statu quo wherein they were 1639. Now will it be worth the while to consider what State they were in 1639 no great I 'le warrant if their Basis on which their Star-Chamber and High Commission-Court were built be taken away For the said Statute of 13 Car. 2.12 does not only provide against the Canons made in the year 1640. but also against any other Ecclesiastical Laws not formerly confirmed allowed or Enacted by Parliament which the Canons of 1603. never were or by the established Laws of the Land as they stood in the year of our Lord 1639. So that it is not so difficult to get out of this Labyrinth that does so puzzle many men as some do imagine For all Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions till the Statutes of Hen. 8. to the contrary were derived from the Pope as Supream Head of the Church This Head being beheaded the Supremacy was vested in the Crown and for Rules and Canons to walk by King Hen. 8. was empowered by the Statute aforesaid to nominate 32. Commissioners one Moiety Lay and the other Clergy yet they did nothing perhaps for that reason But 1 Ed. 6.2 This great Flower of the Crown is taken care for and not for ornament only but for weightier reasons it is Enacted that all Processes Ecclesiastical Summons Citations c. be from the first day of July then next following made in the name and with the Stile of the King as it in Writs original or Judicial at the Common-law and the Test thereof in the name of the Archbishop or Bishop or other having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction who hath the Commission and grant of the Authority Ecclesiastical immediately from the Kings Highness and that his Commissary Official or Substitute exercising Jurisdiction under him shall put his name in the Citation or Process after the Test So that if there be any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England distinct from his Majesties Lay-Courts they must be such as acknowledge his Majesties Supremacy above their Hierarchy and as a Testimony thereof all their Processes Ecclesiastical Citations Summons c. ought to be made in the name and with the Stile of the King as it is in Writs original and judicial at the Common law and also the Kings Arms Engraven in the Seal of their Spirital Court Oh! but this would be to buckle and stoop and thrust the Hierarchy and holy Pastoral Head under a Lay-girdle for though the Pope be exil'd this Realm it is hard to exile the Hierarchical Spirit witness the Fifth-Monarchy men Presbyterians and you know who they 'le keep no Courts at all first no will they not Then who cares who are the Losers If they go thereto and be so pettish And it is a proper Query what penalty they have and do incur by keeping their Spiritual Courts otherwise which were first founded upon the Popes Title and since that determination now vested in his Majesty as all other Courts good reason and Law too and all their original and judicial Processes ought to be in his Majesties name and under the Seal of his Majesty as a token of their due Homage by striking Sail and lowring their old rotten over-worn Top Sayls to the Kings-Flag 'T is true the said Statute of 1 Edw. 1.2 is repealed by 1 Mar. 2. but I care not for that for it is revived again by Repealing 1 Mar. 2. in the Statute 1 Jac. 25. And 't is well worthy our observation what 1 Mar. 2. The Bishops and Clergy of the Province of Canterbury in their Convocation assembled do acknowledge and confess in their Supplication to their Majesties Philip and Mary in these very words Insuper Majestatibus vestris supplicamus pro sua Pietate efficere dignentur ut ea quae ad Jurisdictionem nostram Libertatem Ecclesiasticam pertinent sine quibus debitum nostri Pastoralis officii curae animarum nobis commissae exercere non possumus nobis superiorum temporum injuriâ ablatâ restituantur ea nobis Ecclesiae perpetuo illaesa salva permaneant ut omnes leges quae hanc nostram Jurisdictionen libertatem Ecclesiasticam tollunt seu quovis modo impediunt abrogentur c. that is Moreover we do in all humility Petition your Majesties That out of your great Piety you would vouchsafe to make such Provision That those things which belong to our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Liberties without which we cannot duly discharge that Pastoral Office and cure of Souls committed to our Care and taken from us lately by the Iniquity of the Times may be again restored to us so that they may for ever remain inviolate and safely secured and assured to us and the Church And that all the Laws which have taken away or do any ways hinder our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Liberties may be made null and void Here 's ado and a whining for their dear Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Liberties which the Convocation themselves being Judges were at that time taken from them and abrogated and if since that time they have not catch'd it again 't is to be fear'd 't is desperate now and never to be retriev'd But Queen Elizabeth was enabled and empowered 't is the words of the Statute to retrieve their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by granting them Commissions to that purpose of which large Power granted by Parliament they made such large use as is complained in 17 Car. 1.11 at large against Magna Carta c. which I am loth to repeat but would willingly have it lie buried and never rise up in Judgement against any Successors as seem to be of the same sanguine complexion that 13 Car. 2.12 damns all such Commissions for ever and that his Majesty

Visitations may be exacted of and paid by the Inferiour Clergy to the richer Dignitaries Answ Procurations are certain Impositions exacted from the Clergy by the Bishops and his Eyes called Arch-Deacons in their Visitations claiming the same by ancient Custom but no Law The original of these Procurations is pretended to be a Compact or Agreement made betwixt the Incumbent and the Visitor viz. the Bishop or Arch-Deacon whereby each Incumbent charged himself or his Benefice with such a yearly Rent to the Visitor to defray his and their Charges at some great Town fit for their reception at a publick Meeting or Visitation of the Clergy rather than be pestered with entertaining the Visitor and his Train which grew like a snow-ball the further it roll'd in their Ecclesiastick Visitations which of old were the only Visitations But he that has but a life-Estate as no Parson or Vicar has any more in his Benefice can never grant a Rent for ever out of such Benefice and bind his Successors nil dat quod non habet it is not so much as an Annuity or Rent-seck much less can the Incumbent or Termer grant a Rent-charge no not with the consent of the Patron Spiritual Livings being surely incorporeal things You see then if some do but of any fashion get in one foot it is hard getting them out again perhaps they 'l say as some have done that no Clergyman Benefic'd Rector not Vicar has any Freehold in his Living but all is the Bishop's and the Inferiour Clergy that do the great Work are but the Bishops Curates and Journey-men I 'le assure you some of them are so ignorant that they know no better and dare not value themselves nor behave themselves in his presence at a higher rate And yet this Lording over the Clergy this exercising Dominion one Clerg man over another as the Princes of the Gentiles and usually call'd Prelacy is not only absolutely forbid by our Blessed Saviour as aforesaid but as much care and provision made against the Pride and Avarice of the greater sort of Clergymen if such cob-web and net-work Laws or Canons could hold the mighty as heart can wish To instance in a few that first come to my mind at present for some men will never take warning until their Iniquities become to be hateful to all Mankind Our Blessed Saviour warns them the Apostle Peter warns them not to play the Bishop for filthy lucre but of a ready mind the ancient Councils Fathers Canons Laws and Statutes warn them and command to forbear this more than bestial rapacity but surdo fabulam for of all spoyls none are made with more ease and safety than when the Inferiour Clergy become a Prey to the great ones yet no spoils are so unchristian unhumane nor so unnatural Tygers spare their own whelps Eagles Hawks and Kites use not their sharper Talons against Birds of their own feather Dogs indeed and Swine only of all Brutes have a stomach to feed upon eat up and devour their own kind Dictum est etiam quod in plerisque locis Archidiaconi super Fresbyteros exerceant Dominatisnem ab eis censum exigant Cabilonens Synod 2. cap. 15. quod magis ad Tyrannidem quàm ad Rectitudinis ordinem pertinet Si enim Episcopi juxta Petri Apostoli sententiam non debent esse dominantes in clero sed farma facti gregis ex animo multò minùs isti boc facere debent Sed contenti sint regularibus disciplinis teneant propriam mensuram quod eis ab Episcopis jungitur hoc per parochias suas exercere studeant nihil per cupiditatem aut avaritiam prasumentes that is It is reported that in many places Arch-Deacons domineer over Parish Priests and will have Money of them which exaction borders upon Tyranny rather than right Order and Justice For if Bishops in the opinion of the Apostle Peter ought not to Lord it over the Clergy but take the oversight of the flock not by constraint but willingly much less should these Fellows do the same but be content with good Discipline and the Corps of their Arch-Deaconry keeping within their own bounds and endeavour to put the Bishops Injunctions in execution all over the Diocess not daring to do any thing through Avarice or greediness There is a like Order made in Concil Lateran sub Alexandro 3. Concil Lat. par 2. c. 3. to the Archbishop of Canterbury against Exactions of this nature and the Extortions of the Arch-Deacon of Coventry Object If it be objected that these Synods are none of the Four first General Councils Answ It is readily confest for how should they make Laws against the Exorbitances of Arch-Deacons when there was no such Creature in nature exercising any Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical Anast in vit Sixt. Rom. Episc and therefore could not abuse their Authority till they had it to abuse I read indeed Anno Dom. 260. of St. Lawrence an Arch-Deacon Martyr'd in that year saith Anastasius But this Arch-Deacon had nothing of our Arch-Deacons but the Name he was indeed Arch-Deacon in English the Arch-servant or Chief Deacon to the Bishop of all the Servants or Deacons about him He was Chief Turn-key Prudent de Coronis saith Prudentius describing his Office at best but Chief Porter or Door keeper that kept the Keys of the poor mans Box and the Church-doors Claustris sacrorum praeerat to use the words of Prudentius coelestis arcanum domus fidis gubernans clavibus votasque dispensans opes The Arch-Deacon was chief Turn-key or chief Steward among the Deacons and chosen by themselves from among themselves The next Arch-Deacon I read of was one Stephen Anno 255. Arch-Deacon to Cornelius Pope of Rome St. Ambrose had got one about the year 400. Afterwards the Name by the favour of the Emperors of Constantinople became a Name of some repute for till then Mr. Arch-Deacon was not suffered to sit nor yet to be cover'd in presence of a Parish Priest But about this time as before Diocesans began to appropriate the Name of Bishops to themselves alone which in the Apostles days signified no more than Presbyter as appears by 1 Pet. 5.1 Tit. 1.5 6 7. where the Presbyter in the fifth verse is called Bishop in the seventh verse and Acts 20. the Elders or Presbyters verse seventeen are called Bishops verse twenty eight Take heed therefore unto the flock over which the Holy-Ghost hath made you Bishops also Arch-Deacons and the Bishops-Dean or Deacon was chosen though very improperly out of the Presbyters who had lost that servile name in that of Priest or Elder than which the Church never knew a greater Title of honour but as Diocesses did increase so did the profit also of being the Bishop's Deacon or Dean and what Priest or Rector that could would not strive to be the Favorite-Dean or Arch-Dean Though as we esteem in England such Men are more properly called Arch Priests And these Arch-Deacons