Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	paul_n	7,516	5	6.4255	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85746	Of the authority of the highest powers about sacred things. Or, The right of the state in the Church. Wherein are contained many judicious discourses, pertinent to our times, and of speciall use for the order and peace of all Christian churches. / Put into English by C.B. M.A. The method of every chapter is added in the margent, and collected at the end.; De imperio summarum potestarum circa sacra. English.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Barksdale, Clement, 1609-1687, translator.	1651 (1651)	Wing G2117; Thomason E1244_1; ESTC R202244	156,216	365

that Maintenance is assigned them out of the publick either lands or moneys that Vacation from civill offices and in some causes exemption from the Court of Inferiour Judges is indulged to them All which shewes that their publick Confirmation is by the favour of the H. Power as the Institution of their Office is from God their Ordination by the Pastors Only there remaines to be disputed their Election that is the Application of the Person to the Place or of the Place to the Person That we may handle this question exactly we must have recourse to that distinction set down afore Some things are of immutable right other things are just and right untill it be constituted otherwise In this later way not in the former the Election of a Pastor in any place whatsoever belongs to the Church or Congregation of the faithfull in that place That the Election is rightly made by the Church is proved by the very Law of Nature for naturally every Society is permitted to procure those things which are to their own conservation necessary in which number is the Application of Functions So have the Company in a ship a right to choose the Master Fellow-Travellers their Leader a free people their King Whence it follows if the Divine Law hath not prescribed a certain way of electing and as yet no Humane Law thereof is extant then the Election of their Pastor pertains unto the Church But he that will affirm this Right to be immutable must evince the immutability either by the Law of Nature or by the postive Law of God By the Law of Nature he cannot for no reason persuades it and like examples shew the contrary So many Nations who are under the Command of the best men or of hereditary Kings may not now Elect their King because that which Nature did permit might be chang'd by Humane Law and hath indeed been chang'd He must then have recourse to Positive Law which he will never be able to produce Examples in stead of Law hee must not allege for many things are rightly done which yet are not necessary to be done Nay more not only many things grounded upon examples of the Apostles time but also some things Instituted by the Apostles use hath altered to wit such things which were not strengthned by the force of a Law The Apostles Instituted that the Churches should have Deaconesses which Pliny also shewes to have been among the Christians in his age What Church is there now wherein this Office is retain'd And Beza saith he sees no cause why it should be restor'd The same Beza acknowledgeth the Function of the Deacons to have been perpetuall by Apostolicall Institution who neverthelesse approves the different usage of Geneva The Apostles Instituted that Baptism should be celebrated by immersion which by aspersion is now perform'd Many other things of like sort need not be prov'd abrogated seeing they are prov'd to have been used they are not prov'd to have been commanded But farther it appears not out of the whole History of the New Testament that Pastors were Elected by the people that the manner of Election remained indefinite is more easily collected thence I speak of Pastors for of the receivers of the Churches mony there is not the same reason The Apostles were very sollicitous lest by taking of the publick mony they should incur suspicion or give offence Paul might assume Luke unto himself by his Apostolicall Power and commit to him the custody and disposition of Collections for the poor but he chose rather to permit a free election to the Churches for this reason as himself speaks that no man should blame him in the administration of so copious munificence For the like cause was the election of Deacons remitted by the Apostles to the multitude that no man should complaine of any partiality between the Hebrews and the Hellenists But this was not perpetuall the reason thereof being temporary for in the next times after the Apostles the Deacons were not chosen by the people but by the Bishops the people being sometimes consulted with and sometimes not To proceed with the Pastors the Princes of them the Apostles were elected by God the Father and by Christ I have chosen you twelve I know whom I have chosen saith Christ After that He through the Holy Ghost had given Commandements unto the Apostles whom he had chosen saith Luke Paul an Apostle not of men nor by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father So them that were in the next degree to Apostles the LXX Evangelists Christ himself appointed This Divine Election to Preach the Doctrine then first brought down from Heaven is signified by the word of sending for after the Election of those LXX it is said pray the Lord to send Labourers into his Harvest and that is pertinent How shall they Preach unlesse they bee sent When Christ was ascended into Heaven the promised Comforter supplyed his place Therefore both to the ambulatory and to the standing Offices the fittest men were chosen by the judgement and testimony of the Spirit but by the Ministry of the Apostles or of them whom the Apostles had made Governours of the Churches So Timothy was admitted to his charge according to the prophecies which went before on him that is saith Theodoret by Divine revelation not by Humane suffrage saith Chrysostomo And Oecumenius generally of that age By appointment of the Spirit were Bishops made not in a common way Hence Paul in his oration to the Presbyters of Ephesus tels them They were made Overseers over the Lords flock by the Holy Ghost Sometimes also Lots were cast that the people might by the event be certified of the Divine judgement The most antient Authour Clemens of Alexandria hath left this written of John the Apostle By Lot He chose the Clergy of those that were signified by the Spirit Nor is it a new thing to use Lofs in the choice of Priests but used also by the Gentiles by the antient institution doubtlesse of the sons of Noah This illustrates the History of Matthias whom I wonder by what argument some have persuaded themselves to have been elected by the people for in Luke there is no foot-step of such election What is said They appointed two Barsabas and Matthias ought not to be referr'd unto the multitude as Chrysostome would have it but as it is the common opinion of the Fathers to those eleven whose names are afore exprest and who by the mouth of Peter had spoken to the multitude These are they who in the words immediatly following are said to have powred out their prayers unto God and to have given forth their Lots that it might appeare not whom the multitude but whom God had chosen for so themselves speak wherefore that which follows is not to be rendred He was chosen by the suffrages of all for who can believe that the people were call'd to

Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors not only distinct in Functions but by certaine degrees also For God hath given in the Church first Apostles in the second place Prophets in the third Do ors The very Deaconry by the Apostles instituted is sufficient to prove that Christ had not commanded an equality of Church-men Therefore we set down this first as a thing of undoubted verity Wherein we have Lanchius Chemnitius Hemingius Calvin Melanchthon Bucer all consenting with us yea and Beza too so far as to say That some one chosen by the judgement of the other Presbyters should be and remaine President of the Presbytery cannot nor ought not to be reprehended Secondly we determine That the Episcopacy we speak of hath been received by the Universall Church This appears out of the Universall Councils whose Authority even now among pious men is very Sacred It appears also by comparing Synods either Nationall or Provinciall whereof there is hardly one to be found but it carries in the forehead manifest signs of Episcopall eminence All the Fathers none excepted testify the same Among whom the least friend to Episcopacy is Jerom being himself not a Bishop but a Presbyter His testimony therefore alone sufficeth It was decreed all the world over that one chosen from among the Presbyters should bee set over the rest to whom all the care of the Church should pertaine Yea so universall was this Custome that it was observed oven among the Hereticks which went our of the Catholick Church All these things saith the Author of the Homilies upon Matthew which are proper to Christ in verity have Hereticks also in their Schism Churches Scriptures Bishops and other orders of the Clergy Baptisme Eucharist and all things else Certainly this errour of Aerius was condemned of all the Church that he said A Presbyter ought to be discerned from a Bishop by no difference Jerom himself to him who had written There is no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter answers 'T is spoken as ignorantly as one would wish you have as the Proverbe is made shipwrack in the Haven Lastly Zanchius also acknowledgeth the consent of the whole Church in this point Our third determination is That Episcopacy had its beginning in the Apostolicall times Witnesse the Catalogues of Bishops in Irenaeus Eusebius Socrates Theodoret and others all which begin from the Apostles age now to derogate faith in an Historicall matter from so great Authors and so consenting together it cannot but be the marke of an irreverent and pertinacious mind It is all one as if you should deny the truth of that which all the Roman Histories deliver That the Consulship began from the expulsion of the Tarquins But let us againe heare Jerom At Alexandria saith he from Mark the Evangelist the Presbyters alwaies elected one from among themselves placed him in a higher degree and call'd him Bishop Marke deceased in the 8. of Nero to whom John the Apostle being yet alive succeeded Anianus to Anianus Abilius to Abilius Cerdo The same Apostle surviving after the death of James Simcon had the Bishoprick of Jerusalem after the death of Peter and Paul Linus Anacletus Clemens Held that of Rome Evodius and Ignatius that of Antioch Surely this Antiquity is not to bee contemn'd whereunto Ignatius himself the coetanean of the Apostles and his next followers Justin Martyr and Irenaeus yield most apparent testimonies which need not bee transcribed We will end this with Cyprian Now saith he through all Provinces and through every City are appointed Bishops Our fourth is this This Episcopacy is approv'd by Divine Law or as Bucer speaks it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost that One among the Presbyters should be charged with a singular care The Divine Apocalyps affords an irrefragable argument to this assertion for Christ himself commands to write unto the seven Angels of the Asian Churches Who by Angels Understand the Churches themselves they manifestly contradict the Holy Scriptures For the Candlesticks are the Churches saith Christ and the stars are the Angels of the seven Churches 'T is a wonder how farre men are transported by the spirit of Contradiction when they dare confound things so openly distinguisht by the Holy Spirit We deny not but every Pastor in a generall signification may be capable of this title of Angel but here 't is manifestly written to One in every Church Was there but one Pastor in every City No sure for even from the time of Paul at Ephesus were many Presbyters ordained to feed the Church of God Why then is the Letter sent to One in every Church if no One had a peculiar and eminent Function Under the name of Angel saith Austin is commended the Governour of the Church The Angels are the Presidents of the Church saith Jerom. If any had rather hear the modern Writers let Bullinger speak The heavenly Epistle is destin'd to the Angell of the Church of Smyrna that is the Pastor Now Histories doe witnesse that Angel or Pastor of the Church of Smyrna Polycarpus was ordained Bishop of the Apostles namely by St John and lived in the Ministery of this Church 86. years What Bullinger relates of Polycarpus is confirmed by Irenaus Tertullian and other Antients who say We have the Churches nourished by John for though Marcion reject his Apocalyps yet the Order of Bishops recounted to its Originall will stand upon John the Author Let Marorat also speak John began with the Church of Ephesus for the celebrity of the place nor doth he addresse himself unto the people but the Prince of the Clergy that is the Bishop Haply Beza's Authority or Rainolds will be more accepted See therefore what favour the Truth found with them Beza To the Angel that is to the President who was in the first place to be admonisht of these things and by Him his other Colleagues and all the Church Rainold In the Church of Ephesus although there were many Presbyters and Pastors for the administration thereof yet One was over those many whom our Saviour calls the Angel of the Church and writes the things to him which others from him might learn Certainly if it be well said by Dio Prusoeus that Kings are the Genii of their Kingdomes and in Holy Scripture Kings are stiled by the name of Angels who sees not that this name is also by an excellent right agreeable to the Prince of Presbyters Christ therefore writing to those Bishops as men Eminent in the Cergy without all question hath approved this eminence of Episcopacy To let passe the Annotations after the second Epistle to Timothy and that to Titus which are found in the most antient Greek Copies Concerning Timothy hear the writer supposed Ambrose whose words are these Timothy created Presbyter by himself the Apostle called Bishop because the prime Presbyters were so entitled of whom One receding the next succeeded but because the following Presbyters began to be found unworthy to hold

this with Plato's saying Happy are the Commonwealths wherein either Philosophers are Kings or the Kings given to Philosophy Yet may not the Philosopher invade the Royall throne nor the King be thrust out of it that is no Philosopher It is objected The spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets Many of the antients both Greek and Latine understand St. Pauls meaning to bee this They that are inspir'd with Prophecy must not all speak to the people at once but one expect the ending of the others speech for they are not like the possessed transported by the inspiration but so far Masters of it that they may use the gift of God without consusion and in that order wherewith God is best pleas'd and his people edified There is no cause to reject this Interpretation which the series of the Apostles discourse so fairly admits The other Interpretation that the Prophets ought to suffer other Prophets to judge of their Prophecies is not pertinent here For first seeing that singular gift of Prophecy as of healing and tongues was marvellously ordeined by God for the beginnings of the Church and is long since expired it cannot be applyed by way of argument unto our times And grant you may compare unto that admirable gift manifested also by the prediction of things to come the Theological skill what ere it be acquir'd by Humane labour yet will not they obteine their desire who would have all Pastors and them alone to be knowing in Theology for there are many Pastors not very expert and some that are not Pastors are of good skill in things Divine Lastly there being divers kinds of judgement as hath bin spoken the establishment of one is not the destruction of the other The same disease or wound fals under the judgement of the Physician and of the Judge if it come in question before him and of the sick man himself And when the Prophets judged in the Apostolicall Church it was said to every Christian Try the spirits yea St. John layes down a Rule by which every one of the faithfull might discerne the Spirit of God from the Spirit of Antichrist Whereunto answers that of Paul to the Thessalonians Quench not the Spirit Despise not prophecyings Try all things hold fast that which is best But without all question this Tryall and distinction of things is an act of judgement And in that place of the Apostle Let the Prophets speake two or three and let the other judge the most antient Fathers by the word other understand not the other Prophets only but all the people not without great reason when as elsewhere the discerning of Spirits is by the same Apostle distinguisht from the gift of Prophecy Whence it appears he meant either some gift Common unto Christians for Faith also is numbred among the Gifts distinct from the gift of miracles or a certaine excellent faculty to judge of Prophecies where with some that were not Prophets were endued The Apostle Paul himself bids the Corinthians judge what he saith And the Holy Fathers often appele unto the judgement of all the people So Ambroses Let the people judge in whose heart is writ the Law Divine All this we have alleg'd to manifest that the judgement of things Sacred and of the holy doctrine did at no time belong to the Prophets only Whence also it may be understood how poore their Evasion is who reply to the Arguments out of the old Testament and say the things there done by Kings were not done by them as Kings but as Prophets For if by the name of Prophet they meane some speciall Mandate of God was given them this is where the Scripture is silent a meer divination so far from certaine that 't is not probable What need any speciall Mandate when the Law was extant unlesse perhaps to incite the negligent but if by Prophecy they meane a clearer understanding of the Divine will proposed but darkly in those times we easily confesse they did as Prophets since they would have us say so know more certainly what was to bee commanded by them but they commanded as Kings And for that cause the Scripture in the narration of those affairs not content with the proper name added the name of King to signify the Right of doing proceeded from the Authority Royall and therefore to be imitated by Kings Wherefore letus also say when Christian Kings give Commandements about Sacred matters they have the Right to doe so as they are Kings the skill as Christians as taught of God having the Divine Law inscribed on their hearts in a clearer Print than those antient Kings and Prophets For many Kings and Prophets saith Christ to his Disciples have desired to see the things that ye see and have not seen them and to heare the things that ye heare but they have not heard them CHAP. VI. Of the manner of rightly exercising Authority about Sacred things WE distinguish the Right of the Highest Powers and the manner of Using their right for 't is one thing to invade that which is belonging to another and an other thing to use improvidently that which is ones own So great is the variety of things times places persons that we might here make a long discourse but we shall briefly collect what may suffice for our purpose First then it behooves him that hath the Supreme Authority both in the inquisition of that which is by Law Divine determined either to be believ'd or done and in consultation about what is profitable for the Church to lend a willing care to the judgement of eminent Pastors for their piety and learning That this is to be done in doubtfull matters reason and common sense demonstrates for one man cannot see nor heare all things therefore said the Persians A King must borrow the eyes and ears of other men By the Commerce and Society of wise men Princes become wise Which sayings if they are true in secular affairs how much more in Sacred where the errour is most dangerous For the proof hereof we need not allege examples it will be more worth our pains to consider how far the judgement of the Supreme Governour may and ought to acquiesce and rest in the judgement of Pastors We must note therefore that all Humane judgement is founded either upon internall principles or upon Externall the Internall are either objected to the sense or to the understanding by the former we judge the Snow to be white by the later we judge Mathematicall Propositions to be true because they are reduced to common notions The Externall principle is Authority or the judgement of another and that is either Divine or Humane no man doubteth but that in all things he must acquiesce to Divine Authority thority so Abraham judged it to be his duty to offer his Son So Noah believed the Floud would come But to Humane Authority no man is bound to acquiesce