Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	church_n	heaven_n	peter_n	4,199	5	7.9041	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85444	The right of the Church asserted, against the povver usurped over it. By J. Gailhard, A.M. & D.	Gailhard, J. (Jean)	1660 (1660)	Wing G127; Thomason E1046_7; ESTC R208052	21,398	25

that I hope it will not seem to be impertinent if from the Governours of the Church I have passed to the necessity of the Government it self for hereby I do convince of the necessity of having Governors and these to be chosen according to Gods heart and will The Prelatical Party will or must hitherto agree with us and then our work is more than half done for they will be hard put to it when we shall desire them to shew out of Scripture their Hierarchical way Let them prove Arch-bishops Deans Arch-Deacons Prebends Canons Chapters c. as we will prove Pastors Teachers Rulers and Deacons But perhaps they will have refuge to their humane right and say that many things were left to the judgment of the Church It is true of circumstantial and accidental things and cases as to the Censures which ought to be proportionable to the sins and offences whether such a man doth deserve to be suspended from the Sacrament for such a Fact and whether to be excommunicated about which yet we have certain several Rules as that of Charity Decency and Edification which we must not trangress But I do account it is a necessary thing and not indifferent who it is that must administer Church-Discipline For it is not an accidental thing as that it may be executed or not executed without any prejudice to the Church neither is it indifferent as that any one may indifferently administer it but it is thus far necessary as that every one that doth administer it must be called thereunto and every one that is called thereunto must execute it But now we must proceed and shew how they that are to govern the Church must be chosen out of the Church here by Church I understand a Body or Assembly distinct and different from the civil or political Body although somtimes one may be chosen a Ruler in the Church and be a Civil Magistrate yet he is elected not because he is a Member of the Civil but of the Ecclesiastical Body And to speak the truth every member of the Church is a member of the Civil body yet in a different respect and here from the whole and universal Church we must come to particular Congregations who must have in themselves all the right which belongs to them as parts and members of the whole For when we say that Christ hath instituted a Government in his Church we must not conclude it not to be instituted and necessary in particular Congregations because it is not said he hath instituted it in his Churches for the word Church being collective doth include all the parts and if you will Parishes or Congregations belonging to it For I say that every particular Church hath all that which is essential and necessary to a Church as it is a Church as well as the Universal Church or else it will not be a Church and therefore as Doctrine and Discipline are necessary to the Church in general so it is to every Church in particular According to this Maxim of Philosophy he that saith the whole doth also say the parts in the whole hence therefore I do by way of inference conclude that they who are to administer Church-Government in particular places ought to be chosen out of the Church in particular places and the proof of this will also confirm my former universal indefinite Proposition how the Rulers of the Church are to be chosen out of the Church My first reason to prove this is drawn from the sufficiency of the Church whereby the Church hath all things necessary to it having no need to borrow from others any thing conducing to it Herein doth the perfection of the Church appear for as it is a body distinct from other bodies so it hath within it self from Christ alone her dependency for being and well-being Nay it would not be a Church if it had not within her self all things necessary to it as it is a Church If therefore the Church be perfect in it self then she doth receive no perfection from without this perfection consists in the being and well-being of the same that is Doctrine and Discipline so that if the Church had not her Discipline within her self it would be very defective and unperfect by perfection I mean all things necessary And who could think that Christ Jesus after all that which he had done and suffered for his Church would have left somthing yet which it needs to borrow from others What his end was when he gave himself for his Church the Apostle tels Eph. 5.26 27. And in 1 Tim. 2.15 It is called the House of God the Pillar and Ground of truth And elsewhere the Spouse of Christ with whom Christ hath a conjugal communion and from him she receiveth Grace for Grace But I need not to insist upon this perfection and sufficiency of the Church within her self I will wrap it all in Davids words Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God so that I conceive that Government being so necessary to the Church the Church hath it within her self and they that are to be Rulers must be chosen out of it The second Proof is from the Right of the Church I call the Right of the Church that which Christ hath given to the Church that which the Apostles and others after have yielded to the Church this right is the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as it is Mat. 16. Where Christ saith that he would build his Church upon Peters confession and give the Keys to the same it is then the Churches Priviledge to chuse her Governours out of her self but because the right of the Church hath several Branches and Particulars I will name some of them It doth consist I. In chusing their Ministers when they are ordained Teachers must not be forced upon a Church as that notwithstanding the dissent of the People they should be maintained in it no Patron or other may lawfully present a Minister in a Parish or maintain him in it against the mind of the Congregation This Right of the Church in this is proved by Three Reasons 1. Christ who is the Authour of Ministry hath given this right to the Church alone as we have shewed afore 2. Because Ministers were given by Christ to the Church that by an ordinary and certain manner they might be procured by the whole Church 3. If it were not so then the Church could not voluntarily submit her self to her Pastors which is as necessary in Ministers as it is in Marriage where the consent of both parties is required And truly this right hath been continued to the Church for the space almost of a thousand years after Christ as we have proved by some Instances in our Letters to a person of quality But here when we say that the people of a Church have a right to call a Minister to themselves we mean not to ordain him for Ordination is not made by every Member of the Church though

doth protect and preserve it providing it with all necessary Graces This is the end of his giving some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists c. for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Eph. 4. This is a Song proper to the Church to say I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 So that to find her other Lords is to make her an Adultresse I am jealous over you with a godly Jealousie saith Paul to the Corinthians for I will present you as a chast Virgin to Christ for I have spoused you to one Husband 2 Cor. 11. Let therefore no man no not the Angels themselves pretend any Power and Superiority over the Church of Christ for the Lord Jesus hath purchased his Church a Freedom from all other powers but from his own And to speak more exactly to this No man in civil or ecclesiastical Office ought to pretend any Right and Authority over the Church 1. No civil Magistrate for as we render to Caesar the things that are Caesars so we must render to God the things that are Gods It is ordinary in Scriptures to make a difference between civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions Christ's Kingdom is described Psal 45. His Government spoken of Isaiah 9.6 7. It is seen in a Dream by the Stone cut out without hands which broke the Image of all other Dominions Dan. 2.34 Christ doth profess His Kingdom is not of this world and he makes a clear difference between civil powers and that of his Church when he said to his Disciples The Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them but it shall not be so among you Matth. 20.25 In such a case therefore let every one abide in that whereunto he is called There is indeed a gracious Promise made of God that Kings should be nursing Fathers to the Church which began to be fulfilled in the time of Christian Emperors It is now continued and I believe it will be to the end of the world but there is never a Promise to any Prince Except to the Prince of Peace Isaiah 9.6 to receive any power or Dominion over the Church It is one of the greatest points of the Popes Usurpation that he will confound these two Jurisdictions and assume not only S. Peters Keyes but also S. Pauls Sword as they call it so that which the one cannot open the other shall cut it In a word He will undertake the Ecclesiastical and Civil Government since he boasteth to have power in spiritual and temporal things But thus much here is not approved of by the Word of God As the Pope is a temporal Prince so let him govern his Subjects as he is a Bishop let him use tyranny as he doth over his Church But every Christian Reformed Prince ought to be careful not to Administer the Goverment of State and Church together But besides the not preaching of the Word there are two things specially which the civil Magistrate may not do The First He may not ordain Ministers because he hath not Commission to that effect it belongs to those that have already been ordain'd themselves and this would be to destroy Ministry by way of office in the Church this was the practise in the Primitive Church that Bishops or Pastors were chosen by other Bishops and the people that is the Representatives of the people without any civil Monarch or any one pretending Monarchy in the Church as it will at large be found written by Cyprian who lived 250. in his Epist 55. and 68. But the Second thing that the Civil Magistrate must abstain from is The Administration of Ecclesiastical Discipline For though his Office be about the Church yet it is not in the Church Although some Magistrate may be an Officer and Ruler in the Church but not as he is a Civil Magistrate for under that notion it doth not belong to them It is indeed the Right of Kings to call COUNCELLS to see the Church Reformed for he is the Keeper of both Tables yet in this they must make use of Church Officers He also must protect the Church from the power of her Enemies for to that effect he is called the Servant of God Rom. 13. So it becometh Princes to protect Ministers from the Power usurped by their Fellow-Servants as it is Observed of the Duke of Lancaster who to his great commendation secured Wickliffe from the malice and power of his enemies that were Bishops as is observed by FOX in his Book of Martyrs Fol. 413. But we have briefly yet clearly spoken to this Power of the Civil Magistrate in the Churches affairs in a Latine EPISTLE as an Answer to a Letter from a Learned Friend only I do adde this If the Civil Magistrate doth not pretend any Power over the Church this is so far from tending to his Prejudice dishonour and discredit as that it is the greatest glory to abstain from that which doth belong to him yet it will be their highest prasie to submit to the Church Rules as they are Members of the Church It is well known how Ambrosius used this Right with Theodosius and the words of Chrysostome shewing the Power of the Church in administring Discpline in relation to any one are very notable If any wicked man saith he come to the Table of the Lord give him not the Body or Blood of Christ but if he will not desist tell it me and I will rather shed my bloud than to admit such a one And as it is the right of the Church not to be subject to the power and dominion of any Civil Magistrate so Christ hath not purchased this freedom that it should be subject to any Officers and Ministers in it but this liberty will be encroached upon if any Monarchy or Hierarchy be setled in the Church which do follow one another For when there is a Prince and a Soveraign there will be Lords and persons of a quality superiour to the common people Now I say any tittle signifying Monarchy in the Church is tyrannical such as the Prince of the Church or the Supream head thereof and it is necessary for any Christian to abstain from such a Title For 1. It is known out of Scriptures that Christ Jesus is the only Head of his Church One Text will serve for all it is Eph. 1.22 So that to talk of any other Head under the notion of ministerial or subordinate it is to form a monstrous body with two heads for in the same place v. 23. The Church is said to be the Body any one that doth aspire to the title of Head of the Church must have these three qualifications 1. Excellency above the members in power and dignity 2. Perfection in himself greater than any of the members have 3. Infusion of all things which the body hath need of But these three qualities are to be found in Christ Jesus alone who being God and man a