Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	heaven_n	power_n	see_v	2,233	5	3.5794	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78018	Conformitie's deformity. In a dialogue between conformity, and conscience. Wherein the main head of all the controversies in these times, concerning church-government, is asserted and maintained; as without which, all reformation is headlesse, and all reconciliation hopelesse. Dedicated by Henry Burton, to the honour of Jesus Christ, as the first-fruits of his late recovery from death to life; as a testimony of his humble and thankfull acknowledgement of so great a mercy: and published for the service of all those, that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ...	Burton, Henry, 1578-1648.	1646 (1646)	Wing B6160; Thomason E358_20; ESTC R201164	26,532	40

instance we need not go beyond the seas or over our English bounds to fetch it What if the generality of the Ministers and people in England be found to be wrapped in such a destructive Heresie I call it destructive using the * Apostles word where he saith That there shall be false teachers among Gods people who shall cunningly bring in destr●ying Heresies And what are these Even denying the Lord that bought them bringing upon themselves * swift destruction And many shall follow their destructive wayes or their destructions by whom the way of truth shall be * evill spoken of or blas●hemed A Prophesie by the way which if well weighed and rightly applyed may be found to be in a great measure fulfilled in these our times For here is first a destructive or as our common Translation damnable Heresie Secondly this Heresie * is in deaying the Lord Jesus Christ Thirdly here is a many followers Fourthly among this many there be some at least who have their mouthes open in Pulpits Streets Tables and their Quils in Presses in Pamphlets blaspheming speaking all manner of evill against the way of truth even that way of truth which holdeth forth confesseth professeth maintaineth against all the worlds reproaches Jesus Christ in that very particular wherein he is at this day so mightily decried and denied by false Teachers and their followers Nor can any Age as touching this one particular be paralleld with this of ours for Pens and Tongues of blasphemy lashing out and running over all the bounds and banks not only of Christianity but even of common modesty and humanity as men bereaft of their wits and all this against the assertors and maintainers of the Kingly Office of Jesus Christ And lastly a destructive Heresie in that not only it destroyes soules but is in a precipice to destroy Kingdoms to such a height of rage it is now grown Conf. But Mr. Conscience what means all this What In that your generality do you charge as all Synod Sion City Countrey as lying under the guilt of such an Heresie What All denying the Lord Jesus Christ Consc Mr. Conformity cannot a man speak of a generality but he must needs name particulars And you know that generals have their exceptions And when a generality is mentioned let all particulars look to it But what if there be a generality and that of Protestants so called in the land which will be found to overthrow Christs Kingly Office Conf. What if say you what if the sky fall Nay I dare say yea and swear too that not any one of this generality you mean doth or dare deny Christs Kingly office and prerogative I have often heard them in publick to give Christ the title of King and to speak of his kingdom and they every where confesse and professe him to be King of his Church So as such a charge would argue as much malice as untruth Consc And I have heard them say as much as you say But is saying sufficient Yea I have heard them say That all Church-members must be Saints that all Churches be equal none have jurisdiction over other that Gods Word is the only rule of Reformation and many such principles about Churches they confesse in words So Christ to be King But if this be all it may prove little better then the Jews putting a purple robe upon Christ with a crown of thorns on his head and a reed for a scepter in his hand with Hail King of the Jewes but for all this crucified him so that you confesse Christ to be King and crucifie his true subjects Again you know the Pharisees said many things well but they did them not And doth not the Scripture speak of such as * professe they know God but in works deny him Whence we observe a twofold deniall of God one in words another in deeds Now I do not say that the generality doth in words deny Christs Kingly office but this I affirm that in works they deny him Conf. Sir how do you prove that or how doth that Scripture reach to those you speak of Consc A question opportunely put And therefore if you turn to the 14 15 verses immediately foregoing you may observe what manner of persons those were whom the Apostle there speaks of and upon what occasion For that Chapter being to set forth the office of a Bishop or Pastor of a particular Church or Congregation and how he should be qualified and gifted and the Church governed the Apostle willeth Titus to warn the Christians Not to give heed to Iewish fables and commandements of men that turn from the truth Where he ranks the commandements of men in Church-matters manners and government with Iewish fables as which do turn men away from the truth and so from Christ as he also sheweth at large Col. 2 8. 20. 22. and throughout the whole Chapter So as to set up the Commandements of men in formes of worship or of Church-government being Christs spirituall kingdom is to separate men from Christ Col. 2. 19. and to make them unbelieving Tit. 1. 14. and impure in minde and conscience V. 15. yea abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Vers 16. All which I commend to your more sad and serious consideration Master Conformity Conf. I confesse this is a terrible Scripture to those that lye under the condemnation of it But I hope those whom you mean are no such men for first you confesse they deny not in words Christs Kingly office and for any deniall in works you have not yet proved nor I hope can Consc I have nothing to do with your hope But whereas you would make it my confession that they deny not in words Christs Kingly office neither doe I absolutely confesse so much For though I confesse I have heard them upon occasion being put to it in words to confesse Christ to be King of his Church yet I have heard them again say and have read it in their books and they maintain it tooth and nail that Christ hath left the forms of worship and Church government unto men to be so framed as is most suitable to the conditions of the people or the laws of each State binding all the subjects thereof and that under severe penalties to an universall conformity or uniformity Conf. Why sir hath not Christ left that power and liberty to those that are in authority as Synods to frame and compose forms of worship and Church-government such as they judge fittest having an eye to the Scripture and the civill Magistrate to confirm the same by law Consc The Pope indeed arrogating to himself all power in Heaven and Earth over Churches and Kingdoms makes his claim from Scripture As * Thou art Peter c. Therefore his successor the Pope is the Rock whereon the Church is built So here are two swords therefore the Pope hath power of both the swords So

they give to their General or National Assembly supreme power not only over their Parochial Classical and Provincial assemblies but even over the Parliament it self For not only they take the power to appoint both time and place for the convening of their Ecclesiastical assemblies as 2. Book of Discipline chap. 7. But they say moreover in the same chap. For this Orders cause they may make certain Rules and Constitutions appertaining to the good behaviour of all the members of the Kirk in their vocation And this they do without the Civil Magistrate Nay more chap. ibid. They have power also to abrogate and abolish all Statutes and Ordinances concerning Ecclesiastical matters that are found noysome and unprofitable and agree not with the time or are abused by the people And again in the same book chap. 12. The National Assemblies of this Country called commonly the General Assemblies ought alwayes to be retained in their own liberty and have their own place with power to the Kirk to appoint times and places convenient for the same And all men as well Magistrates as Inferiors to be subject to the Judgement of the same in Ecclesiastical causes without any reclamation or appellation to any Judge civil or Ecclesiastical within the Realm Thus in reference to the Spiritualty or the Church they make no bones to set up in their National Assembly the same Papal power which the Pope himself claimeth over Kings Princes States Kingdoms Commonweals And Mr. Rutherford in his * Government of the church of Scotland chap. 20. p. 312. tels us That though none in this grand assembly have decisive voyces save only Commissioners yet the Acts of the Assembly oblige all the absents not present in all their members and that because whatsoever is by those Commissioners determined and concluded is matter necessary and agreeable to Gods word as being no lesse infallible then those decisions of the Apostles Act. 15. All which Conformity I commend to thee when in thy best senses And because thou art apt to be overtaken with a supine drowsines pleasing thy self with thy dreams of becomming a King when once thou art gotten up into the saddle or throne of a Kirk National-Assembly let me awaken thee by pricking thy dull sides that thou mayest be at least convinced of that spirit of Antichristian pride and tyranny of rebellion and treason in lifting up a Papal throne above the Kings and Kesars above Kingdoms and Commonweals to the enslaving of the whole Nation in their souls bodies and estates For whosoever shall not in all things conform to the constitutions of that generall Kirk assembly when once the horn is blown then ipso facto imprisonment confiscation of goods banishment and what not Now Conformity doth Gods word hold forth any such Kirk fashions What To overrule Civil States and Kingdoms What That all Kirk laws and constitutions mustneeds be such as are both necessary and agreeable to the Word of God What To set up in the Kirk an Oracle of Infallibility and a Pontifician supremacy and Antichristian tyrannie and all under the name of a Christian Presbyterian Kirk-government But because this perhaps moves thee not I will remit thee to the supreme Bar of this Kingdom there to receive thy doom in case thou dost obstinately and madly persist in thy importunate clamours to have that Presbyterian government set up and thereby our fundamental lawes priviledges and power of Parliaments liberties and freedom of all true bred English subjects brought under perpetual bondage worse then that either of Egypt or Babylon But I passe on 2. For us You may know Conformity that we are not the setters up of that Religion you charge us with but it is that which we find to be set up by Christ and his Apostles which they did without leave from the Civil power or from the Ecclesiastical or mixt Synedrion as before Secondly though the Kingdom of Christ be indeed over all the kingdoms of the world yet all the subjects of this kingdom as they are the subjects of this or that civill State so they owe civill obedience thereunto but as they belong to Christs kingdome they are free from the civil power in point of religion owing subjection only to Christ and if the civil power usurp over any of them they yield themselves to suffer with patience without resistance Conf. Conscience I like thee well for this yet But you tell us strange things of Church-assemblies Consc Not more strange then true Read their books and be wise And for our suffering which thou likest so well it is no more then what Christ and his Apostles both taught practised and wherein all the Martyrs followed them Conf. I will better consider of what you say But do you not condemn the Magistrate when you say he usurps over you Consc No I condemn him not that is for God to do who is the supreme Judge of the world Conf. Why what limits hath God set to the Magistrate Consc Read Deut. 17. 18 19. and that from v. 13. to the end of the chap. to wit the whole law of God So also what bonds and bounds their own conscience and the terror of the great Judge and their sacred oath and solemn covenant and stipulation with the people and not only Gods law but the civil lawes of the kingdome do put upon them you cannot be ignorant Conf. But what if the Civil state hath made a-law to inhibi● and restrain all men and that under severe penalty from the observation of any other form of Religion and Church government then that which it hath established by law with a necessity of uniformity and conformity thereunto imposed upon all the subjects of the kingdom Doth the Magistrate sin in seeing this law executed And without such a government what Order will you have in your Churches or what coercive power in the case either of heresie or schisme Consc Do you question the Magistrates sin when his law is against the law of God and the liberty of a Christian who is the subject of Christs kingdom For here we are to distinguish between a subject of Christs spiritual kingdom and a meer subject of the civil State He that is a meer subject of the civil state acknowledging no superior power above it his conscience though blind bids and binds him to obey but he that is a true subject of Christs kingdom being also a subject of the civil State owes a twofold obedience one to the Civil State another to Christ According to that of Christ Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods Nor doth the order or disorder in churches as churches put any difference between the having or not having of a civil power In the Apostolick churches there were both heresies and schismes 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. 1 Joh. 2. 19. whith the civil power took no cognisance of Nay it was and may be as apt to persecute the

* The Holy Ghost shall lead you into all truth Therefore the Apostolick Chair at Rome cannot erre Here Mr. Conformity cast your eye a little upon the Scripture and see there what one place you can finde to serve your turn that hath any more likenesse or probability in it for what you claim then those places which the Papists are not ashamed to build their Babel-Towre upon You have talked much of Jure Divino but are not able to crane it up higher then to Jure Humano and therefore I suppose it is that of late dayes since the House put their nine Queres to the Synod the mention of Jure Divino is quite husht And now Conscience challengeth you to produce but one testimony from Scripture for you which will not make you as ridiculous as the forenamed Scriptures do the Pope And for Synods they have no such authority as you speak of Give us one Scripture That in Acts 15. will not serve your turn And the Apostles sought not to humane authority and laws to confirm the Gospel or to give power to the exercise of their ministery Conf. Why Mr. Conscience you your self cannot shew us from Scripture a model of your way though promised and long expected and therefore why should you require one of us Consc We do not require so much of you but to shew us one only place of Scripture for you which you cannot do And for us though we do not give you such a model as you desire or rather dream of for no such model is left in the New Testament as was given to Moses and David in the Old which consisted altogether of externall things being shadows of the spirituall now under the Gospel the pattern whereof was Christ But this we both have done and yet further are able to do to prove our way with all our practises in every particular out of Gods Word which you are not able to do for any one of your practices much lesse for the whole way of your Classicall Presbytery as which hath no footing in Scripture For because you thus urge me shew us if you can in all the New Testament any one Nationall Christian Church Or shew us any one ground for either Nationall or Parochiall Christian Churches or yet any Church fixed to a place so that all people successively comming to dwell there be they what they will godly or prophane Protestants or Papists because inhabitants there must therefore make up the Church there whether Nationall or Parochiall Or shew us that Churches should come by naturall propagation or locall habitation and succession and not by spirituall generation only Or shew us in Scripture either rule or example for a Classicall Presbytery Or shew us in the whole Scripture a State church government allowed of God Or shew us out of the Word that the Apostles constituted no Churches without leave obtained from the civill State Or whether those Christian Jews that constrained the Galatians to be circumcised for the avoiding of persecution did well or no so to constrain and that only to avoid persecution or whether this example will warrant you to constrain all to conform to you either because conformity is free from persecution or because all must be persecuted that conform not Or lastly shew us what better rule or example the Scripture affords for wresting from the Magistrate through the force of importunity by men both many and mighty stirred up and egged on by a Colledge of Priests to reject Christ and his government and deliver him up to their wils to be crucified then that Colledge of Priests in Jerusalem who so incensed the people against Christ that nothing would satisfie them but he must be crucified so as the Magistrate is necessitated even against his conscience what through fear of Caesar on the one side and what for favour of the people on the other to gratifie them with a Barabbas in stead of Christ Now to all or any of these we desire your answer Conf. Sir I only urge this for the present that though the Scripture hath not expressed a power given to men by Christ yet we finde examples of it in the Old Testament as Jehosaphat Ezekiah Iosiah Asa Kings of Judah who reformed Religion and are commended for it as good Kings for their labour Consc They did not set up any new forms of Religion of their own head but they commanded the Priests and Levites to restore and repair Religion in all things according to the prescript and precise pattern given by God himself And note withall that the kingdom of Iudah or of David was a type of Christs spiritual kingdom and all the Kings of Judah were types of Christ So as no other Kings or States are to be paralleld with them But yet I say for all that they went not beyond the precise rule of Gods law as you may see by all those examples you alledge For Christ gave those Kings though types of himself no such power as you pretend Yea the Scripture every where in both the Testaments hath punctually preserved inviolate and entire that Kingly prerogative of Christ as being as incapable of being communicable to any humane power as his omnipotency is or his other offices as High Priest and Prophet For proof hereof Moses for all his wisdom and learning and piety though he were a great Prophet and a type of Christ yet had not this power granted unto him to frame the Tabernacle with all things pertaining thereunto as himself pleased but a strict charge God gave unto him saying See thou do all * things according to the patterne shewed thee in the Mount So David though a King and a man after Gods own heart yet was not entrusted for the framing of the pattern of the Temple for his son Solomon but * God gave him the pattern thereof both by the Spirit and in writing so carefull was God lest David should forget any thing which he delivers to his son Solomon to do in all things accordingly So in Ezekial we reade where the reformation of the Church under the Gospel is typed there is a pattern to be measured as Ezek. 40. 5. to which answereth that in Rev. 11. 1. a place worthy our best observation as pertinent to these times of Reformation which must be measured by the golden reed of the Word of God And for any the least dominion over the conscience by any humane binding law in matters of faith Christ would no more entrust the Apostles themselves then he did Moses and David And therefore * Paul disclaimed it And * Peter disswaded it to the Presbyters or Elders being himself an Elder And herein even servants must not be servants to men as being bought with a price and so Christs free-men And remarkable is that * Scripture where Christ speaking to the multitude and to his Disciples he tels them of the Scribes and Pharisees sitting in Moses chair and so to