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authority_n apostle_n church_n successor_n 2,614 5 9.1249 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A33914 The office of a chaplain enquir'd into and vindicated from servility and contempt Collier, Jeremy, 1650-1726. 1688 (1688) Wing C5258; ESTC R24123 17,677 42

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the rest of the Apostles had priviledges peculiar to themselves both in respect of the extent of their Jurisdiction the infallibility of their Doctrine and other miraculous Gifts with which they were endowed to which Bishops themselves much less inferiour Priests have no reason to pretend yet though God was pleas'd for the more speedy and effectual planting of Christianity to qualifie the Apostles in an extraordinary manner and to give them a larger Commission than to the Clergy of succeeding Ages yet they all act by the same Authority and for the same End therefore the unfix't and moving Nature of a Cure does not alter and degrade the Office of a Priest He is not less a Shepherd because the Flock happens sometimes to wander unaccountably from one Pasture to another He is bound to attend the Charge he hath undertaken and must answer the Neglect of it to God and when it does not continue in the same place to accompany its motion is no more a diminution to his Office than it is to that of a Judge to go the Circuit whose Commission is as considerable though it travels with him from one County to another as if he had been always fix't in Westminster-Hall If it be farther Objected that the Patron appoints the hours of Prayer which seems to imply something of command To this I answer That in his choosing the time of Prayer he does not appoint any service for himself but only declares when he and his Houshold are ready for Gods worship and desirous of the Priestly absolution and blessing which is proper for him to do because the Family is employed in his business and under his command and therefore without his permission they have not many times an opportunity of meeting together for Divine Service Which is still more reasonable because the Priest is suppos●d only to intend the affairs of Religion and to be always ready for the performance of his Office and consequently that time which is most convenient for those under his Care and in which the assembly is like to be most numerous he is by vertue of his Office bound to observe whether his Cure lies in a private Family or a whole Parish But lastly it may be urged that the 33 of Hen. 8. cap. 28. calls the Patrons of Chaplains their Masters and will any man be so hardy as to question the Judgement and determination of the Parliament But here we may observe that this Act calls only those Patrons Masters who can give Qualifications for Pluralities Having premis'd this observation I answer with all due submission and respect to this Legislative Council that if the question was concerning any Civil Right then 't is confessed 't is in the Power of the Parliament either to limit or take it away because the whole Power and Authority of the Kingdom is there either personally or by Representation and therefore they may deprive any Person of his Honour or Estate the Right of the Succession to the Crown excepted as far as they please not that 't is impossible for them to act unjustly but only that what they Determine hath the force of a Law because every man is suppos'd to have given his consent to it But here we must observe that the Church is a distinct Society from the State and independent upon it The Constitution of the Church is founded in the Appointment of Christ in that Commission which he gave the Apostles and their Successors and consequently does not derive its Authority from any Earthly Power The Civil Magistrate never yet made Bishop Priest or Deacon nor ever can and therefore we may safely affirm without any injury or disrespect to him that he cannot make these Spiritual Offices greater or less than they are therefore if God hath made the Priests Office as nothing is plainer in Scripture then that he hath an Office of Government Direction and superintendance over those he is concern'd with then 't is not in the Power of the Parliament to make his Condition servile because no Person or Society of Persons can take away that Power which they never gave The Parliament may with equal Right Enact that Parents shall be subject to their Children and that the wife shall be her husband's Mistress without a Complement as make the people the Priests Masters and give the Flock a Jurisdiction over the Shepherd they may with the same justice repeal the most Established Laws of Nature and invert the Right of the two former Relations as of this latter for this hath its Establishment from the same God that the other have and for Ends at least equally weighty and momentous This Power of their Spiritual Governours they have no more Authority to destroy than they have to vote down the Canon of Scripture or to decree Sacrilege to be no sin 'T is granted that all Ecclesiastical Persons as they are Members of the State are subject to its Authority and that a Priest or Bishop may properly be a servant to the Magistrate if he holds any Secular Employment under him because in this case he acts by a Commission from the Civil Government but this only concerns him as he is a Member of the State and does not in the least affect his Spiritual Capacity The Power which results from that flows from another Fountain and is given by our Saviour himself and therefore cannot be weakened or recall'd by any State-Constitution whatever Men should do well therefore to consider that as a Prince hath no reason to take it well if the people should look upon his Officers as their servants so 't is not over-respectfull to God Almighty to suppose his Ministers stand in that inferiour Relation to those they are concern'd with I shall now proceed to the 2d thing at first propounded viz. to show that whatever fair expectations the Patron may have given the Priest yet these are not sufficient Grounds for an Imperious Carriage on the one hand or a servlle submission on the other 1. This sort of Deportment were unreasonable supposing the Patron had as full and absolute a right in Church-Preferment as he hath in any other part of his Estate For what can be a more ungenerous and ungentlemanly practice than to require that a man should resign up his Liberty and forfeit the priviledges of his Station only upon the probability of receiving some sort of consideration for it afterwards How unlike a Benefactour does he look who sets an Excise upon his bare word and clogs the expectation of future Advantage with present Inconvenience Thus to anticipate the Revenues of a favour is like taking Usury for money before 't is lent which certainly is one of the worst sorts of extortion because here a man not only pays for that he hath not but for that which possibly he may never have But 2ly Let us suppose the Priest in actual possession of some considerable Preferment yet being 't is pretended to be given it ought certainly to come