Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	apostle_n	bishop_n	peter_n	3,355	5	7.7184	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50760	A general discourse of simony by Ja. Metford.	Metford, James.	1682 (1682)	Wing M1938; ESTC R1780	70,265	175

made of how obdurate is his conscience that groans not under these heavy weights of sin Venturing boldly on that villany that all good mens hearts in former ages trembled at I must leave him to prepare his answer at that great Tribunal or else for slighting this timely notice 2. Let us consider the things bought and sold which to shew them to be Simony must be the gifts of the holy Ghost both ordinary and extraordinary real or so accepted Whatsoever is sacriledge to take away from the Church is Simony to buy or sell in the Church But we may reduce them though scarcely numerable to the ensuing heads 1. Buying and Selling the instituted means by which the holy Spirit is attained as Prayers whose Evangelical worth cannot be valued and if purchased are worth nothing 'T is the worst kind of Usury to take ten per Cent. for our Prayers or else not to let them out I confess I know no Church that hires out Prayers or Masses at 12 d. a piece but the Church of Rome which excells in this kind of Alchimy turning all Materials into Gold In our Church 't is decreed by Edmund Archbishop of Canterbury in a Provincial Synod holden about the year 1250 That no Masses be sold nor any thing given or taken for Annalia or Tricennalia Missarum Prov. vetu sl tit 2. cap. praeterea venal as Lindwood shews us which were Masses for a year or 30 Masses if the word be rightly written and not triennalia as some suspect which would be Masses for three years So too for Sacraments largely or strictly taken since they were the Golden Vessels in which grace was conveyed the Church ever held them invaluable knowing that it would have beggered all the Angels of Heaven fully to compensate for any one of them Hence Stephen Langton in the first Council of Oxford Anno Christi 1222 decreed Provin ib. cap. firmiter Inhibemus That nothing be required for Baptism Chrisme vel aliquod Ecclesiasticum Sacramentum And so is the Legantine Constitution of Otho A. D. 1236. tit 4. cap. auditu horribili c. concerning Confession or Penance as they call it which is again confirmed by Othobon another Legate A. D. 1268 with stricter Injunctions as appears tit 2. cap. Quoniam caeca potest as c where he speaks not of Confession and Chrisme only but adds Et qui alia quaelibet Sacramenta interventu Pecuniae conferunt sitales invenerint sc Archidiaconi eos tanquam Simoniacos puniant 2. To Buy or Sell the Offices of the Church instituted by the holy Ghost which t is very probable was the design of Simon Magus to have been an Apostle or at least a Bishop in the Church For 1. By Apostles or Apostolical men only was the power of miracles conferred on others and therefore it must be their authority that he would purchase and 't is the authority denominates the person 2. He desires to do it by laying on of hands which was an act of Office power in Ordination Confirmation and such like 3. It seems by St. Peter's answer he so understood him for he says Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter or in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 8.21 As if he had told him Thou hast no share in the Apostleship nor Call to be in the Clergy or to publish this word of God which is confirmed with these miracles 4. The powring out these gifts upon men was but an extraordinary Ordination to the Ministry Which appears 1. In that it was not given to all that were baptized for then Simon had shared without Money 2. Nor can men give any Reason for these gifts of tongue unless they were to be used in the Ministry Since the faith might be confirmed as well to their own minds internally by the Testimony of the holy Ghost 3. Nor were these gifts given to any Woman that we read of and therefore were not necessary to confirmation of the faith nor sanctification in the faith internally for that they needed as well as men but that Sex was forbidden the Ministry Nor do we want concurrent judgments in this point both ancient and modern but that is beside my design to prosecute Only I observe Cornel. a Lapide so very particular as to affirm that he desired the Bishoprick of Samaria A Lap. in loc l. 4. de notis eccl c. 13. And Bellarmine is very certain he offered Money for the Episcopal authority Constat Simon Episcopalem authoritatem ambivisse durâ pecuniâ emere voluisse That the buying or selling any office instituted by the holy Ghost in the Church was adjudged Symony appears by Stratford who decrees Anno Domini 1342 as Sharrock affirms out of a Mss. in Bodley's Library nec decet episcopum manus impositionem vendere nec ministrum calamum venundare And accordingly 't is determined in the Council that from thence-forward the whole charges of every distinct Ordination and Letters of Orders sealed in England should cost the Ordained but 6 d. and all instruments for setling the Clerk in his benefice but 12 d. vid. Lindwood l. 3. tit 22. de censibus Cap. Saeva miserabilis c. And if the Candidate for Orders proved Simoniacal ad quoscunque Ordines ne praesumat accedere says Walter Reynold Arch. Cant. in the second Council at Oxford A. D. 1322. And if he could get into Orders undiscover'd yet is he declared by Edmund Arch. Cant. Irregular and he compares him with Homicides Incendiaries and forbid to dispense divine Mysteries till he have made full satisfaction to the Church Prov. Vet. l. 1. tit 4. de Ordinandis Thus too it was managed under Pope Greg. M. in the reign of Mauritius who following the sacred Rules of his Predecessors decreed nihil unquam de ordinationibus accipiendum no nor for the Pall nor any Papers and gives this reason for it Greg in Synodo Rom. Quia non decet aut Episcopos suam manum aut Ministros vel Notarios suam vocem vel calamum vendere And indeed it looks a little uncouth that a man should purchase leave to serve God and hire the preferment of being Christ's Messenger And that the Ordainer should sell the Spirit as Judas did the Son and the Ordained like cursed Jews should be the Buyers Midas Fable is but too sinfully verified in such men since their Touch turns all to Gold Doubtless they would not give the droppings of their Nose whose very breath cost men so dear But we may well desist this Crime being more rare than Wolves in England since the Reformation and seems to be a native plant of Italy flourishing no where so well as where the Pope hath set his foot Of which the select Cardinals make a most sad Complaint to Paul 3 d. saying they discovered in Eligentibus caecitatem in Electis insulsitatem in utrisque Simoniacam perversitatem The scrutiny at Rome who is fit for Orders