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	christian_a	church_n	2,398	5	4.2692	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62874	A serious consideration of the oath of the Kings supremacy wherein these six propositions are asserted. 1. That some swearing is lawful. 2. That some promissory oaths are lawful. 3. That a promissory oath of allegiance and due obedience to a king is lawful. 4. That the King in his realm, is the onely supreme governour over all persons. 5. That the king is the governour of the realm, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things, or causes, as temporal. 6. That the jurisdictions, priviledges, preeminences, and authorities in that oath, may be assisted and defended. By John Tombes B.D.	Tombes, John, 1603?-1676.	1660 (1660)	Wing T1818; ESTC R220153	19,748	28

communication be yea yea nay nay and determination that what is more then these cometh of evil or the evil one which made some of the Ancients and later godly persons conclude all Oaths of any sort prohibited now to Christians though they were not to the Jews But the reasons foregiven are so cogent to the contrary that we must of necessity finde out a limitation of the speeches as we do and rightly for the next words of our Saviour following vers. 38 39 40 41 42. which are as full in shew for not resisting of evil but offering our selves to receive further injury and permitting more dammage and profuse vain casting away our estates contrary to the law of nature in our necessary defence to that necessary moderate providence which belongs to every man that due respect which each is to have to the rules of mercy bounty and our own imployment and family so that without good caution we shall make Christs precept in stead of being useful to become pernicious That we may then consider how to understand our Lords precept about swearing we are to take this as certain that Christs precept forbids somewhat which the Pharisaical teachers allowed though they forbad perjury now one thing seems to be forbidden by our Lord Christ to wit the making of such distinction of Oaths as the Pharisees did and accordingly used them which seems to have consisted in two things 1. In conceiving they might use Oaths by some creatures as if in such use there were no relation to God and so no profaning of his name or taking it in vain The reason of this seems to be Christs and James his instances onely in such sorts of Oaths as were by creatures and the refutation of their conceit by shewing that all referred to God as the Oath by the heaven was by God sith it was his throne by the earth sith it is his footstool by Jerusalem sith it was his city by the head sith he makes the hair white or black 2. That some of these Oaths made them debtors to perform what they sware and not other which appears from Christs own charge upon them Matth. 23. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22. where he terms them fools and blinde guides for such decision concluding that all those Oaths had respect to God and did binde And accordingly Christ is not to be understood as forbidding simply all Oaths but such differencing of Oaths in their meaning and obligation as the Pharisees and other Jews either superstitiously or otherwise erroneously used yet I do not conceive this is all For the words Swear not at all neither by heaven nor earth nor any other Oath but prescribing yea yea nay nay censuring more to be from evil or the evil one seems to forbid all Oaths in some cases or manner which some conceive as if he forbad a promissory Oath universally or a vow with an Oath But these opinions stand not with the second Proposition before proved nor do I finde any thing in the text leading to them And therefore I conceive that the prohibition is of that frequent vain light profane unnecessary customary passionate swearing or in secular matters of no importance without any dread of an Oath or consideration of the holiness of God upon a provocation to anger as David 1 Sam. 25. 21. or deceifully as those Psal. 24. 4. all who take Gods name in vain which I gather from the text 1. In that he prescribeth their yea yea nay nay to be in their speech or communication which seems to be meant of their familiar speech one with another in their answers to each other 2. Because James saying Let your yea be yea and your nay nay doth exlude inconstancy and lightness and prescribes such considerateness as that they need not unsay what they have said that to use the Apostles speech 2 Cor. 1. 18. Our words may not be yea and nay off and on but yea and Amen that is firm and ratified so as that deeds answer to words as becomes men that consider what they say and still say that taught the good knowledge of the Lord 2 Chron. 30. 1 2 5 22. Removed the high places and brake the images and cut down the groves and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it 2 King 18. 4. Appointed the courses of the Priests and Levites with the portion to be given to the Priests and the Levites 2. Chron. 31. 2 4. Josiah purged the land of Idols repaired the Lords house gathered all the people to hear the Law read and to make them to stand to the covenant he made before the Lord to walk after the Lord And in the doing of these things the Kings are said to do that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and to walk before the Lord with a perfect heart 2. On the contrary the not removing the high places and permitting Idols and neglecting the setting up of Gods true worship and service is charged upon some of the Kings as their sin 1 King 15. 14. and 22. 43. 2 King 14. 9. and 15. 4. 3. God gives a special charge to the King to have a copy of the Law and to read therein that he may learn to fear the Lord and to keep all the words of the Law Deut. 17. 18 19. and therefore when Jehojada crowned King Jehoash he gave him the testimony 2 King 11. 12. that he might be minded that he was as a King to know and to see to the keeping of the whole Law 4. The open practice of Idolatry is imputed to the want of a King in Israel Judg. 17. 5 6. and 18. 1. which proves that the King in Israel ought to restrain from Idolatry and not to permit every man to do what was right in his own eyes The ma●or is manifest because the Office of the Kings of Israel was no ceremonial function as the Priests but moral and of perpetual use and therefore belongs to other Kings as well as the Kings of Israel nor doth the Gospel deprive them or any other of their State and Authority by their becoming Christians for then suppose King Agrippa had become a Christian he must have ceased to be a King and have had his Kingly power diminished but as the Apostle resolves concerning servants and persons of other conditions 1 Cor. 7. 24. Brethren let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God that is his Christian calling doth not bind him to leave the state and condition of life in which he was nor diminish his Authority which he had when he was called to be a Christian as not consisting with Christianity so is it true concerning Kings and other Magistrates they have greater obligation to God and the Lord Christ no less Authority and power as Kings by their Christianity but they may abide in their Office and exercise the lawful Authority they had before Perhaps

A SERIOUS CONSIDERATION OF THE OATH OF THE Kings Supremacy Wherein these six Propositions are asserted 1. That some Swearing is Lawful 2. That some promissory Oaths are Lawful 3. That a promissory Oath of Allegiance and due obedience to a King is Lawful 4. That the King is His Realm is the onely Supreme Governour over all persons 5. That the King is the Governour of the Realm as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal 6. That the Jurisdictions Priviledges Preeminences and Authorities in that Oath may be assisted and defended By John Tombes B. D. Prov. 23. 21. My son fear thou the LORD and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change LONDON Printed by Henry Hills living in Aldersgate-street next door to the sign of the Peacock To the Christian Readers BEing by special Providence brought hither upon some occasions of mine own and finding many persons of different perswasions scrupling the taking of the oath of Supremacy now beginning to be urged by reason of their unacquaintance with it through the long disuse of it by various conferences I convinced sundry of them that the end and matter of the oath was not such as they imagined Whereupon some persons tender of the publique peace and the liberties of those doubting persons who still remained unsatisfied earnestly pressed me to draw up something in writing tending to the elucidation of this doubt which I was unwilling to do being absent from mine own Books and Collections and hoping to have staid here less time then I am now necessitated to do yet the instant pressure hath drawn from me this writing though short and indigested it being conceived useful in this juncture of time wherein if I be offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoyce with you all as being studious not how to have dominion over your faith but to be a helper of your joy For which and I crave your prayers who am London Oct. 13. 1660. Your brother and servant in Christ John Tombes The OATH of SUPREMACY as it is in the Statute 1. Eliz. Cap. 1. I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Queens Highness is the only supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other her Highness Dominions and Countreys as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or Causes as Temporal and that no forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign Iurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Queens Highness her Heirs and lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Iurisdictions Priviledges Preheminencies and Authorities granted or belonging to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book The Proviso in the Statute of 5. Eliz. Cap. 1. PRovided also That the Oath expressed in the said Act made in the said first year shall be taken and expounded in such form as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Injunctions published in the first year of her Majesties Reign That is to say to confess and acknowledge in her Majesty her Heirs and Successors none other Authority than that was challenged and lately used by the noble King Henry the eighth and King Edward the sixth as in the said Admonition more plainly may appear The Admonition annexed to the Queens Injunctions THe Queens Majesty being informed that in certain places of this Realm sundry of her native Subjects being called to Ecclesiastical ministery in the Church be by sinister perswasion and perverse construction induced to finde some scruple in the form of an othe which by an Act of the last Parliament is prescribed to be required of divers persons for the recognition of their Allegiance to her Majesty which certainly neither was ever ment ne by any equity of words or good sence can be thereof gathered Would that all her lovyng Subjects should understand that nothing was is or shall be ment or intended by the same othe to have any other duty allegiance or bonde required by the same othe then was acknowledged to be due to the most noble kynges of famous memory kyng Henry the viii Her Majesties father or kyng Edward the sixth Her Majesties brother And further Her Majesty forbyddeth all manner Her subjects to give ear or credit to suche perverse and maliciouse persons which most sinifferly and maliciously labour to notify to her loving subjects how by the words of the sayde othe it may be collected the kings or Queens of this Realm possessours of the Crowne may challenge aucthority and power of ministrie of divine offices in the Churche wherein Her said subjectes be much abused by such evyl disposed persons For certainly her Majesty neither doth ne ever wyll challenge any other aucthority than that was challenged and lately used by the sayde noble kinges of famous memorye king Henry the eight and kynge Edward the sixt which is and was of ancient time due to the Imperial Crowne of this Realm That is under God to have the soverainty and rule over all maner persons born within these Her Realms Dominions and Countries of what estate either ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be so as no other forrain power shall or ought to have any superioritie over them And if anye person that hath conceived anye other sence of the fourm of the sayde othe shall accept the same othe with this interpretation sence or meaning Her Majestie is well pleased to accept every such in that behalf as her good and obedient subjects and shall acquit them of all maner penalties conteyned in the said Act against such as shall peremptorily or obstinately refuse to take the same othe The 37. Article professed in the Church of England The Kings Majesty hath the chief power in his Realm of England and other his Dominions unto whom the chief government of all Estates of this Realm whether they he Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes doth appetain and is not nor ought to be subject to any forrain jurisdiction where we attribute to the Kings Majesty the chief government by which titles we understand the mindes of some standerous folks to be offended we give not to our Prince the ministring either of Gods Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions also sometime set forth by Elizabeth our late Queen do most plainly testifie but that onely Prerogative which we see to have been given to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the civil sword

Bible to be translated and publiquely to be read proclaimnig fasts and days of thanksgiving with many of the like acts of Kingly Authority have been unwarrantable 3. Kings should have no way of expressing their zeal for Gods worship and true Religion more then other men if they were not Governours in spiritual things and Causes nor be more accountable to God for neglect thereof then other men nor this sin of theirs of more guilt then the like sin of others which are all absurd 4. All the holy Martyrs who have owned their authority and submitted to it when they suffered under it all those who have petitioned for Reformation of Religion to Kings have giventhanks to God for it have advised that it should be sought from them should be censured as foolish if not sinfully countenancing an unrighteous usurpation and the best Christian Kings who have done most for the settling the affairs of the Church censured {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} busie in other mens matters and the like is to be said of Parliaments and so all matters of Religion must be left wholly to Bishops the evil and miserable effects of which are discernible in the Records of former and later times to be intolerable as it fell out in the troubles by Thomas Becket in the time of Henry the second of Stephen Langton in King Johns days the persecution in Queen Maries days by Bishops whose disowning the Kings Supremacy and asserting the Popes occasioned the making and the imposing of this Oath 5. Those Titles which have been given them for their care in ordering the things of the Church that they were nursing fathers and nursing mothers to it according to Isaiahs prophecy Isa. 49. 29. should be recalled all the exhortations and charges given to them by preachers to take care of the Church of God should be retracted they should be no longer minded that they are to be keepers of both tables of the Law in a word it should be their virtue to be as Gallio was that cared for none of these things Acts 18. 17. which are all absurd Against this many things are objected 1. That to acknowledge the King the onely Supreme Governour is to make him God To this I answer Not so sith he is acknowledged Governour in his Dominions and Supreme therein under God and the exclusive term onely excludes foraign jurisdiction of the Pope and other Princes and States which by the Oath is renounced not Gods Government Object 2 If Kings are Governours in all causes then they may appoint what Religion and worship of God they please and it is evil to disobey or gainsay what they impose Answer Though in temporal things they be Governours yet are they to Govern according to Laws So in Spiritual and Ecclesiastical things they are to Govern according to the Laws of Christ and such rules as agree with them and not in either in a meerly arbitrary way after their own will nor are we necessitated to obey or own what they require if inconsistent with the laws of Christ and such rules as agree with them Object 3. If Kings be Governours in all Causes over all persons then may they dissolve Churches and their Government and mould and order them as they will Answ. So far as Church constitution Government and ordering is by Christs appointment or such example which hath the force of an institution of Christ it may not be altered by a King But in such things as are left to humane prudence and there is a concernment of the weal publique Kings have authority to order them so as that they tend to the real good and advantage of the Churches of Christ and the glory of God which is the highest and ultimate end of all Object 4. This will make the use of Synods and Assemblies of Pastors to determine things of Religion and to order government unnecessary sith the determination of all will lye in the Kings breast Answ. Though Statute-laws require the Kings assent and the Government is to be exercised in his name by his Commission yet are not debates in Parliament and passing bills by both Houses nor consultations with judges nor their decisions of cases unnecessary The like is to be said of the use of Synods and Assemblies of Pastors and learned men though the calling of them and validity of their Canons that is rules in respect of the imposing them on others with civil penalties require the Kings concurrence Object 5. This hath occasioned great evils in so much that persecution hath been raised against godly persons as Heretiques and Schismatiques when Princes have been misled so as to burn banish imprison and otherwise to afflict persons judged by Prelates and others to be such Answ. 'T is true this hath fallen out when Princes ignorant of the true Religion corrupted in their education perverted by seducers and ungodly guides in their judgements have yielded too much to the misinformation of others and so have been unhappy in the abuse of their Government to the great hurt in life liberty and estate of innocent persons And the like hath been in mal-administration of civil affairs through the like causes yet the power and authority in neither is to be denied for some abuse for that would introduce a worse evil of Anarchy and mischievous confusions On the other side when Princes have been good and have used such good Counsellours as Jehojada was to Joash their Government in Religion hath been of great advantage to the Church of Christ And as things have stood in England it was the means under God whereby Popery was expelled and the Protestant Reformation was established Object 6. By allowing so much power in Ecclesiastical things Religion is often changed with the King and thereby peoples minds are at much uncertainty what Religion to be of which tends to irreligion and Atheisme Answ. So it fell out in the Kingdom of Judah yet the power of the Kings of Judah in matters of Religion was not for this cause denied And the like happens upon change of teachers as in the Churches of Galatia and Paul Acts 20. 29 30. foretels the like would be in the Church of Ephesus yet is not therefore the use and Government of Pastors to be denied but more diligence to be in using such holy means as prayer for Kings 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. c. which by Gods blessing may prevent these evils Object 7. No man is to Govern in that whereof he is no sit Judge nor is any man a fit Judge but he that is skilful in the things he judgeth which seldom happened to Kings in matters of Religion and therefore Government therein is ill ascribed to them Ans. As a King may be fit to Govern in Temporal Causes whereto is required skill in the laws of the Land of which perhaps he hath little or no knowledge not so much as a Judge is to have who passeth sentence if he choose and use them that are skilful and