Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	country_n	great_a	king_n	8,331	5	3.6012	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02400	The Romish chaine. By Edmund Gurnay, parson of Harpley	Gurnay, Edmund, d. 1648.	1624 (1624)	STC 12530; ESTC S121205	26,705	112

owne particular conceit for all kind of graces and diuine assistance It being expreslly said that The Lord knew Moses face to face that his like was neuer knowne that he was the friend of God that after sixe score yeeres his eye was neuer dim nor his naturall force abated Moses also hauing his brother Aaron to share with him in the maine businesse and the rulers ouer thousands hundreds and fifties to saue him the labour of inferiour causes The Lord also most miraculusly both raining dayly vnto the people a bread from heauen and preseruing their clothing from waxing ould therein sauing him the care for their temporal necessaryes yet not withstanding so groned Moses vnder his burthen as that somtime he brake forth into this wish that God would rather kill him then continue him in such misery And as for the bondage which the Body of the Church must likewise vndergoe by meanes of this vniuersall Supreame who can vtter it For the members of the Church being dispersed ouer the face of the whole earth some of them must of necessity be as farre in situation from their head as the very Antipodes and so by that meanes shall haue no principles of Faith no determinations of controuersies and in efect no executions of Iustice but such as must bee appealeable ane suspendable from vntill a person dwelling in the furthest parts of the world be made acquainted therewith and shal haue ratified the same Yea yet further how scandalous must these courses needes be in the eyes of Iewes and those which are without and what a stumbling block in their way for when the Iew shall read in his and our Prophets that vnder the new couenant men shall so abound with knowledge as that they shall not need in comparison to goe to their next neighbour for it it shall bee so written in their hearts will hee euer be brought to beleeue that the Gospell which the Christians imbrace can be that new couenant or that our Christ can bee that Messias vnder whome knowledge is vniuersally confined at least for certainty and infallibilitie vnto the breast of only one particular person Or can he iustly be argued of obstinacie if hee resolues rather still to continue vnder Moses Law which neuer inioyned him to goe farther then the bounds of Canaan which for quantitie exceeded not ours of England for any kinde of knowledges sentences resolutions appeales or determinations whatsoeuer And as for the Infidells which are wholy without can it bee marueiled if they likewise resolue rather still to worship the Sunne and Moone in the Firmament which once a day doe supervise them then this onely Sonne of God if He hath but one immediate vessell of his grace for all his followers to draw at and that vnder the locke and key of only one particular person and he confined vnto one particular Angle of the earth yea what course can be imagined more apt to inforce and disperse contagion Heresie Apostacie through the whol body of the Church when the poluting or peruerting of only one particular person shall be the corrupting and infecting of the vniuersall head thereof yea finally what temptations or prouocations more forcible toward the erecting of a second Babell when all the world shall bee brought to obey onely one man and consequently to learne onely one Language perhaps the Latine which God himselfe hath branded for the maine cause of attempting the building of the first Babell These kind of dangers difficulties scandalls bondages abasements considered and put in the ballance against all imaginable conueniences or benefits which may redound vnto the Church by meanes of this vniuersall Head if they shall ouerpoyze we may thervpon cōclude that no strength of argument can inforce the accepting thereof Finally whereas we thirdly protested that no writer of what kinde soeuer for the first fiue thousand yeeres ab initio mundi did euer maintaine the necessitie of this vniuersall Head wee take that to be sufficiently proued vntill instance be made to the contrary and that no kind of authour of reckoning whatsoeuer did at any time so determine this alone may bee proofe sufficient For that all the possible knowledge which writers can haue being either from Scripture or from argument that which comes by reuelatiō being Scripture it self if as we haue proued neither of these two originall lights acknowledg it what good writer can affirme it much lesse maintaine it for a principle of the faith especially considering how all the principles of the faith are so euident as partly both these lights acknowledge them witnesse the decalogue and partly one of these lights namely Scripture does so abundantly acknowledge them as that euer since the Apostles time they haue beene agreed vpon witnes the Articles of faith How then shall those passe for tolerable writers which will avouch not onely for a truth but also for a principle that which neither of these lights giue any lustre vnto yea and for such a principle as rather should giue light vnto all other principles then neede to borow light of any whatsoeuer For it erecting a Head for euery soule vpon paine of damnation to looke vp vnto and depend vpon what lesse degree of light can be requisite vnto it then that which may make it cleere enough euen for runners to read it and the most weake sighted to find it euen as readily as sucklings find the pappe whereas on the contrary it is not only destitute of such immediate instinctiue and noone shine light but also is as vtterly voyd and vncapable of light as darknesse it selfe Iudge then reader of what validity the first linke of the chayne is which if it cannot hould the conclusion must of necessary fall to the ground this being the condition of Soriticall and Chaine arguments that if but one of the propositions faile the conclusion cannot follow So as were this first proposition granted them yet could it also be nothing for their purpose vnlesse euery one following be made good especially the next which is this The Apostle Peter in his time was this vniuersall Head Against which position our demonstration shall be this The Kings and Gouernors which liued in the time of Peter had more authoritie ouer their Christians which liued in their dominions then Peter had Peter therefore was not vniuersally the Christians Head That those Kings and Gouernors had such authority more then Peter had wee proue because they stood more deepely charged from God to improoue those Christians vnto the glory of God then Peter did For the only end why God giues authoritie vnto men ouer one another being this that Mankinde may bee the more fully improued vnto his glory hee by that meanes hauing the honour not onely of particular persons but also of Societies Families Cities Countreys and Kingdomes it must of necessitie follow that such as are more deepely charged to improoue a companie vnto Gods glory must also haue the

greater power and authoritie ouer that company which they so stand charged with Now that those Kings were more deeply charged so to improue those Christians then Peter was we thus proue by they had greater meanes so to doe euery mans charge being answerable vnto his meanes vnto whom much is giuen as our Sauiour tels vs there being much of him to bee required and the more mighty as Salomon addes being to expect the sorer triall Now that the meanes of these kings were greater then the meanes of Peter we thus finally declare first because it was in their power to protect those their Christian Subiects from persecutions so to open a doore vnto their preaching whereas Peter was not able so much as to protect himselfe noe not to saue his owne shoulders from the whipp Secondly for that it was also in there powers to indow those their Christians with priviledges and Iurisdictions whereby such as were otherwise vntractable vnto the gospell might by the meanes of such temporal hopes and feares which the carnall minded are onely sensible of be won or prepared therevnto Thirdly and principally because rhey had at their dispose and command though only in the Lord wee grant and no otherwise could Peter or any mortall man haue at command the gifts abilities and mysteries of those their Christian Subiects the Lord expresly charging euery soule amongst them to bee subiect vnto the higher powers and euen out of Peters owne mouth that they should submit themselues vnto euery ordinance of man whether vnto the King as the Supreame c. So as though those Kings were not in their owne persons indewed with such gifts and graces as were necessary vnto Christian gouernment at least not so abundantly indued as Peter yet as long as they had the dispose and authoritie ouer such persons as were so indued it was as well in effect as if they had been actually so indued themselues and of the two the better by the Phylosophers rule who iudged mans condition in being borne naked to be therein rather better then worse then the Beasts for that man might by that meanes turne his naked hand into a Speare a Spade a Sword a Scepter a Staffe a Pen or what hee list and shift his garments when he list whereas the beast hath no shift but must alwayes sleepe in his cloathes and shooes and with his weapons about him of necessity The meanes therefore which those Kings had for the improouing of those Christians vnto the propagation yea plantation of the Gospel must be acknowledged to bee farre greater then the meanes of Peter and so consequently there charge to be greater For though it is easily granted that those Heathen Kings did little regard or feele any such charge but rather abused and hated the meanes thereof yet is not that materiall our question being not what there feeling or practice was but what their duty and charge was which if it was greater then Peters then also by the proportion of common Iustice their authoritie also must bee greater And so finally if their Authoritie ouer those Christians was greater then Peters Peter could not be their Head and so not vniuersally the Christians Head vnlesse it should be supposed either that Peter was a subordinate head which is indeede no head but a subiect or that those Christians were vnder two seuerall and vndependant heads which both the law of Nature and also the law of Grace abhors it being as well a prouerbe as a text that no man canserue two Masters For whereas it vse to bee pleaded that though those Kings had a Soueraignty ouer those Christians in Temporall Affaires yet might Peter haue it in matters Spirituall Such distinction does deale no better with the Subiect then that false Mother did which was content that the Infant should bee diuided the thus diuiding Soueraignetie being not only a cleauing of the Head but also a renting of the subiect in twaine For admitte that hee which hath Supremacy in Spiritualls should haue neuer so little command were it but of the least finger of the hand or the least digit of the foote yet might hee by meanes of it either draw the seruice of the whole body or so crampe and torment the whole body as that he which should haue the command of all the rest should haue no ioy nor seruice thereof much more then if he hath so great a share as the signification of Spirituals may be extēded vnto that not only in lawfull sense but also in a proper and necessary sense there being no gift indowment or capacitie in man but which both may and also ought to bee an instrument of the Spirit then the which what can bee more properly called Spirituall wee being bound to serue the Lord not only with heart and soule but with all our might euen our very eating and drinking the most common act that is being charged to intend the glory of God which not only is a Spirituall end but also the end of all Spiritualls whatsoeuer If Peter therefore must haue any Supreamacy at all especially in spiritualls he must of necessity haue all Souerainty like punctum or vnitas Mathematica being vndiuidable For though Souerainty may be seated in diuers persons as namely in a State as it is seated in but one in a Monarchy yet must the Authority in euery mandate goe together as likewise euery person must obey it not at halues but with his whole man and whatsoeuer thine hand shall find to doe thou must doe it with all thy power This then being beaten out for a ground that Peter either must haue all the Soueraigntie or none come wee vp cheerely gentle Reader close to the point and see what euidence can be brought for Peters absolute and sole Supremacie And not to say what is aleadged for this purpose but to say more then so all that can be aleadged must tend to the making good this Argument Hee which in his time surpassed all men for Spirituall gifts and holinesse good reason hee should ouerrule But Peter so surpassed all men in his time Peter therefore must bee the supreame Wherevnto we answer that neither of the grounds are found For as we acknowledge no cause why Peters gifts should bee esteemed of a more infallible and diuine element then others of the time as by and by we shall more fully answer so neither is the proposition to be granted which presumeth that the more spirituall a man is the more he should be possessed with Authoritie For as the wife oftentimes may be more holy then the Husband and excell him in vertue both for wisedome gouernment sobriety yea euen for courage and bodily strength especially in his sicknesse and decrepite age and yet stands charged in conscience to giue him the preheminence So may a Subiect excell his Prince for personall vertues and spirituall mysteries and yet still remaine charged to be a Subiect the maine reason