Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	answer_v	spirit_n	word_n	2,516	5	4.3057	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91955	Episcopal government instituted by Christ, and confirmed by cleere evidence of Scripture, and invincible reason. / Collected by the pains of R.R. Preacher of the Gospell.	Rollock, Robert, 1555?-1599.	1641 (1641)	Wing R1885; Thomason E238_6; ESTC R4045	29,352	39

and neither of things present nor by-past Thirdly the High Priest as he was chiefe Governour he could not be a type and figure of Christ because if there had been but two ranks of Church Governours one of them behoved to be chiefe and so still there should have been a chiefe Governour And lastly the order that was among Church Governours was not Ceremoniall but Morall and as necessary for the Government of the Christian Church as the Jewish for God is the God of Order now I am sure as well as he was then now nothing that was Morall was typicall and therefore Aaron was not a type and figure of Christ as hee was chiefe Governour of the Iews Now I will shew you in what respect hee was a type and figure of Christ First as the High Priest was one man he did typifie Christ as the one High Priest of our profession and therefore Christ would not commit the chief Government of the Church to one any more but to many in one and the same rank and order Next the High Priest his offering of one Sacrifice once in the yeere within the Veil was a Type of that only one propitiatorie Sacrifice once offered up for the sins of the quick and the dead by our Saviour Christ Thirdly the High Priest his once in the yeere only entring within the Veil was a type of our Saviour his once entring into Heaven to make intercession for us For these respects then AARON was a type and figure of Christ but no ways in relation to his Government for the Reasons before alleaged I have another Reason yet that moves mee to think that there can be no fewer then three Rankes of Church Governours now under the Gospel and it is this The number of Three is mysticall as is evident by many examples both in Scripture things above Nature Naturall things and Spirituall things In Supernaturall things wee see the truth of this assertion in the Divine Essence which subsists in the number of three Persons which is the mysterie of all mysteries in the Divine Essence also there are three Communicable properties Goodnesse Power and Wisdome to these three all the rest may be referred as Life Love Justice c. three incommunicable properties Simplicitie Eternitie Ubiquitie of These no creature is capable According to this similitude the faculties of the Soul were formed by God himselfe for the Soule hath three chiefe faculties Judgement Memory and Will yea the renewed minde consisteth of three Theologicall Vertues Faith Hope and Charitie which are the three dimensions of every Christian soule the bodily Substences of all creatures are composed of Three Longitude Latitude and Profunditie without the which the Creatures can have no Subsistence There are also three degrees of Life Vegetative Sensitive and Rationall and all these in analogie to the three Persons of the Godhead it were easie to shew you divers resemblances between them if it were necessary and to the purpose It was more then the light of Nature that taught Aristotle to esteeme the number of three to be the perfectest number of all numbers yea to be all in all Qui dicit tria saith hee dicit omnia qui dicit ter dicit omnifariam He that saith three saith all and he that saith thrice saith always But to come to the Scriptures saith not Iohn 1 John 5.7 8 that there are three things that beare witnesse in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and that there are three things that beare witnesse on earth the Spirit the Water and the Bloud and these three agree in one Christ loved three Disciples above all the rest with whom he conversed most familiarly Peter James and Iohn to them he shewed himselfe in his glory at the Transfiguration and also in his greatest agonie and humiliation in the Garden of Gethsemanie Our Saviour fulfilled his Ministery in the space of three yeeres hee lay three days in the Grave three times appearred to the eleven after his Resurrection and many mo then these are to be found in the New Testament In the Old Testament you shall finde many numbers of three wherein some mysterie may be found wee read of three only that went to Heaven bodily Enoch Elias and Christ to teach us that salvation both in body and soule is obtained under all the three kinds of Church Government for God hath governed his Church three severall wayes since the Creation one way before the Law another way under the Law and a third way under the Gospell The Worship of God hath been also of three severall formes according to the severall ages of the World Three men saved in the floud of Noah of whom the World hath been replenished the second time Sem Ham and Japhet Three great Patriarchs out of whose loins the Church of God did spring Three great Sabbaths the seven dayes Sabbath the seven yeers Sabbath and the yeer of Jubilee Three great Feasts the Feast of Tabernacles Easter and Pentecost Three ranks of Church Governours the high Priest inferiour Priests and Levits and a number more so that I say if there be any number mysticall it is the number of Three wee have not so great reason to call Seven Mysticall as for Nine it is only thought Mysticall because it contains thrice three But here my opponents will reply That they keep this analogie of three for they also maintain three Degrees of Churchmen preaching Elders Lay-Elders and Deacons who are all Governours of the Church and preaching Elders the chiefe Governours I answer if preaching Elders be the chiefe Governours then according to the Replyers opinion who maintains that the High Priest was a Type and figure of Christ as he was chief Governour of the Church they must be cashiered for wee cannot have chiefe Governours now under the Gospel according to my opposites tenet and so it will follow we must have no publike Ministery at all nor no publike Government neither but private in every man his own Family or rather every man must doe according as hee is moved by the spirit I answer further that those three Orders are neither Christs nor his Apostles Ordinance for any evidence that I can see in Scripture no not so much as any shew or appearance As for Lay Elders I can not find them once named in all the Scripture although the Apostle Paul doth particularly make mention of all Church Governours under the Apostolicall Order in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus he particularly declares what preaching Elders and Deacons must be how they must be qualified before they enter into holy Orders but never one word of Lay Elders Deacons indeed he nominates but not Lay Deacons but such as must preach the Gospel and baptise at their Superiours direction and therefore the Apostle Paul requires that Deacons keep the mysterie of Faith in a pure conscience which cannot be required of Lay men such a measure of knowledge as is understood

EPISCOPAL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTED BY CHRIST And confirmed by cleere evidence of Scripture and invincible Reason Collected by the pains of R. R. Preacher of the Gospell DEVT. 42. Yee shall not adde unto the Word which I command you neither shall yee diminish ought from it that yee may keep the Commandements of the Lord your God which I command you REVEL 22.18 19 For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecie of this booke if any man shal add unto these things God shal add unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecie God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City and from the things that are written in this book LONDON Printed Anno Domini 1641. Episcopall Government instituted by Christ The first Argument THat whatsoever degrees of Church Governours as God established under the Law that Christ and his Apostles continued under the Gospel and that hath governed the Christian Church since the days of Christ and his Apostles They are and must be of Divine Ordination But God established three degrees of Church Governours under the Law Christ and his Apostles continued three degrees under the Gospell and three degrees hath governed the Christian Church since the days of Christ and his Apostles And therefore three degrees of Church Governours are and must be of Divine Ordination The proposition I will take for granted for I know no man will deny it The assumption I must prove which hath three branches The first is That God established three degrees under the Law the High Priest inferiour Priests and Levits the High Priest to be in the first order Inferiour Priests in the second and Levits in the third and this I hope will be granted The second branch of the Proposition that Christ and his Apostles continued three degrees under the Gospell I prove thus Christ chose Apostles for one order and Evangelists for another called at the first the seventy Disciples to distinguish them from the other twelve who were also called Disciples as long as Christ lived for they were seldome before Christ his Resurrection distinguished by their proper names and Christ filled the room of the high Priest himself as long as he served in the Ministery of the Gospell And after his Ascention immediatly the Apostles by the direction of the Spirit made choice of a third Order of Churchmen whom they called by the name of Deacons Act. 6. so that the Apostles were appointed to be of the first Order after Christ his Resurrection at which time they were only endued with stolicall authoritie being before Christs death in the order and rank of Evangelists and the Evangelists inferiour to them for the twelve were ever distinguished from the seventy both in Place Estimation as any man may perceive that can read the Scriptures but when Christ was to as●end up unto the Father he made the Apostles chiefe Governours of the Church and put them in his own place and said to them He that heareth you heareth mee and he that despiseth you despiseth mee after which time they were called by the name of Apostles ordinarily and the other seventy got the name of Evangelists and were the second order of Church Governours at all times remembred in the second place howsoever the twelve Disciples were called Apostles as chiefly sent of God although the other seventy were sent too as wee read Luke 10. yet they were not consecrate with so great solemnitie as the other twelve nor got not so strict a charge nor so great authoritie and power conferred upon them the truth of all this you will finde in the last Chapter of Saint Johns Gospel and the first of the Acts so that since the twelve Disciples are thus advanced and not the seventie it is more then evident that Christ would have the Seventie to be still inferiour to the Twelve And this also appears by the election of Matthias who was taken out of the number of the seventie and advanced to the Apostolicall charge if the twelve had not been in degree above the seventy to what end should this distinction have been made no man will say I hope that the Twelve would have advanced themselves above the Seventy if Christ himselfe had made no difference before for Christ no question if they had beene wrong would have reproved their arrogancie but on the contrary Christ gives testimonie of his approbation of that which they did by consenting to Matthias election yea it appeares that they had a commandement so to do for Peter saith Acts 1.22 that one must be ordained to be a witnesse with us of the Resurrection the word 〈◊〉 in the 21 Verse is very emphaticall so that it would seeme that it was not left arbitrary to them to doe it or not to do it at their pl●asure but of necessitie it behoved to be done as being commanded by Christ their Master Moreover it is evident by the words of the 25 Verse where the Apostle makes a cleer distinction between Apostles and Evangelists That he may take part saith he of this Ministery and Apostleship now the Apostle could not call it this Ministery except it had bin distinct from that which Matthias had before hee was one of the Seventy Disciples before and had power to preach the Gospell of Christ so that it is most sure if the calling of the twelve had not beene particularly differenced by Christ from the calling of the seventy the Apostles would never have put a distinction between the one Ministerie and the other But the Apostle Peter adds yet a cleerer distinction and hee cals the Ministery whereunto Matthias was advanced Apostleship this Ministery and Apostleship saith he now the Ministerie of the seventy Disciples was never called Apostleship unto this day as all men know Further this distinction appeareth that the Apostle with the consent of the rest of the twelve would have the number made up before the comming of the Holy Ghost for the Holy Ghost did not visibly descend upon any but upon the twelve well they did always attend his comming they could not tell how soon and therefore they thought it necessary that Matthias should be elected withall expedition so that any man may conceive if there had not been a wide difference between the twelve Apostles and the seventy Disciples the Apostle would never have made such haste By the former doctrine we finde that our Saviour differenced the 12 from the seventy thrice in the time of his life once for by taking the twelve to be of his counsell as it were and guard of his bodie he made a manifest distinction Luke 6.13 Next after his Resurrection hee put a difference between them in that hee enstalled them solemnly in their Apostolicall charge which hee did not unto the seventy and thirdly after his Ascention he sent the Holy Ghost