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	church_n	successor_n	2,614	5	9.1249	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63741	Dekas embolimaios a supplement to the Eniautos, or, Course of sermons for the whole year : being ten sermons explaining the nature of faith, and obedience, in relation to God, and the ecclesiastical and secular powers respectively : all that have been preached and published (since the Restauration) / by the Right Reverend Father in God Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down and Connor ; with his advice to the clergy of his diocess.; Eniautos. Supplement	Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667.	1667 (1667)	Wing T308; ESTC R11724	252,853	230

no man for his now or at any time being called a Presbyter or Elder can pretend to it for besides his being a Presbyter he must be an Apostle too else though he be called in partem sollicitudinis and may do the office of assistance and under-stewardship yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Government and Rule of the Family belongs not to him But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are these Stewards and Rulers over the houshold now To this the answer is also certain and easie Christ hath made the same Governors to day as heretofore Apostles still For though the twelve Apostles are dead yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles Now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that Office Apostolical and supream regiment of souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore Certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII And then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand and more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that Spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII And yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact S. James the Bishop of Jerusalem is by S. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his Word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and S. Paul and Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so faith Primasius and what is this else but the Bishop saith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bishops were then called Apostles saith the same Father The sense and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the Church Instead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayst make Princes in all Lands that is not only the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their Children and Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be Principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternita● id est Episcopi quos illa genuit Patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith S. Austin the Children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bishops and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not only upon the words of institution but on matter of fact passed forth into a demonstration and greatest notoriety by the Doctrine and Practice of the whole Catholick Church For so S. Irenaeus who was one of the most Ancient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative We can says he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in Churches to be their Successors unto us leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus S. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bishop of Smyrna S. Clement Bishop of Rome by S. Peter and divers others by the Apostles saith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bishops were consecrated by S. John And to be short that Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in the Stewardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by S. Cyprian and S. Hierom S. Ambrose and S. Austin by Euthymius and Pacianus by S. Gregory and S. John Damascen by Clarius à Muscula and S. Sixtus by Anacletus and S. Isidore by the Roman Councel under S. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bishops from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these Premises I give you in the words of S. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quod Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is the Bishops were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that S. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bishops over Churches Indeed the Gnosticks spake evil of this Order for they are noted by three Apostles S. Paul S. Peter and S. Jude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of Dignities and what Government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of S. Jude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the High Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of men no man within the first 300 years after Christ opposed Episcopacy But when Constantine received the Church into his arms he found it universally governed by Bishops and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the Holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and ruled and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting succession from the Apostles

they fed this Family and ruled it by the word of their proper Ministry They had the keyes of this house the Stewards Ensign and they had the Rulers place for they sat on twelve Thrones and judged the twelve Tribes of Israel But of this there is no question And as little of another proposition that this Stewardship was to last for ever for the power of Ministring in this Office and the Office it self were to be perpetual For the issues and powers of Government are more necessary for the perpetuating the Church than for the first planting and if it was necessary that the Apostles should have a rod and a staff at first it would be more necessary afterwards when the Family was more numerous and their first zeal abated and their native simplicity perverted into arts of hypocrisie and forms of godliness when Heresies should arise and the love of many should wax cold The Apostles had also a power of Ordination and that the very power it self does denote for it makes perpetuity that could not expire in the dayes of the Apostles for by it they themselves propagated a succession And Christ having promised his Spirit to abide with his Church for ever and made his Apostles the Channels the Ministers and conveyances of it that it might descend as the inheritance and eternal portion of the Family it cannot be imagined that when the first Ministers were gone there should not others rise up in the same places some like to the first in the same Office and Ministry of the Spirit But the thing is plain and evident in the matter of fact also Quod in Ecclesiâ nunc geritur hoc olim fecerunt Apostoli said S. Cyprian What the Apostles did at first that the Church does to this day and shall do so for ever For when S. Paul had given to the Bishop of Ephesus rules of Government in this Family he commands that they should be observed till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore these authorities and charges are given to him and to his Successors it is the observation of S. Ambrose upon the warranty of that Text and is obvious and undeniable Well then The Apostles were the first Stewards and this Office dies not with them but must for ever be succeeded in and now begins the inquiry who are the successors of the Apostles for they are they must evidently be the Stewards to feed and to rule this Family There are some that say that all who have any portion of work in the Family all the Ministers of the Gospel are these Stewards and so all will be Rulers The Presbyters surely for say they Presbyter and Bishop is the same thing and have the same name in Scripture and therefore the Office cannot be distinguished To this I shall very briefly say two things which will quickly clear our way through this bush of thorns 1. That the word Presbyter is but an honourable appellative used amongst the Jews as Alderman amongst us but it signifies no order at all nor was ever used in Scripture to signifie any distinct company or order of Clergy And this appears not only by an induction in all the enumerations of the Offices Ministerial in the New Testament where to be a Presbyter is never reckoned either as a distinct Office or a distinct Order but by its being indifferently communicated to all the Superior Clergy and all the Princes of the People 2. The second thing I intended to say is this that although all the Superior Clergy had not only one but divers common appellatives all being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Apostolate it self being called a Deaconship yet it is evident that before the common appellations were fixt into names of propriety they were as evidently distinguished in their Offices and Powers as they are at this day in their Names and Titles To this purpose S. Paul gave to Titus the Bishop of Crete a special Commission Command and Power to make Ordinations and in him and in the person of Timothy he did erect a Court of Judicature even over some of the Clergy who yet were called Presbyters against a Presbyter receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses there is the measure and the warranty of the Audientia Episcopalis the Bishops Audience Court and when the accused were found guilty he gives in charge to proceed to censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You must rebuke them sharply you must silence them stop their mouths that 's S. Pauls word that they may no more scatter their venom in the ears and hearts of the people These Bishops were commanded to set in order things that were wanting in the Churches the same with that power of S. Paul other things will I set in order when I come said he to the Corinthian Churches in which there were many who were called Presbyters who nevertheless for all that name had not that power To the same purpose it is plain in Scripture that some would have been Apostles that were not such were those whom the Spirit of God notes in the Revelation and some did love preeminence that had it not for so did Diotrephes and some were Judges of questions and all were not for therefore they appealed to the Apostles at Jerusalem and S. Philip though he was an Evangelist yet he could not give confirmation to the Samaritans whom he had baptized but the Apostles were sent for for that was part of the power reserved to the Episcopal or Apostolick Order Now from these premises the conclusion is plain and easie 1. Christ left a Government in his Church and founded it in the persons of the Apostles 2. The Apostles received this power for the perpetual use and benefit for the comfort and edification of the Church for ever 3. The Apostles had this Government but all that were taken into the Ministry and all that were called Presbyters had it not If therefore this Government in which there is so much disparity in the very nature and exercise and first original or it must abide for ever then so must that disparity If the Apostolate in the first stabiliment was this eminency of power then it must be so that is it must be the same in the succession that it was in the foundation For after the Church is founded upon its Governors we are to expect no change of Government If Christ was the Author of it then as Christ left it so it must abide for ever for ever there must be the Governing and the governed the Superior and the subordinate the Ordainer and the ordained the Confirmer and he confirmed Thus far the way is straight and the path is plain The Apostles were the Stewards and the ordinary Rulers of Christs Family by virtue of the order and office Apostolical and although this be succeeded to for ever yet

there is no further certainty in them than what the one fancies and the other is pleas'd to allow But if the spiritual sense be prov'd evident and certain then it is of the same efficacy as the literal for it is according to that letter by which Gods Holy Spirit was pleas'd to signifie his meaning and it matters not how he is pleas'd to speak so we understand his meaning and in this sense that is true which is affirm'd by S. Gregory Allegoriam interdum aedificare fidem sometimes our faith is built up by the mystical words of the Spirit of God But because it seldom happens that they can be prov'd g. you are not to feed your flocks with such herbs whose virtue you know not of whose wholesomness or powers of nourishing you are wholly or for the most part ignorant we have seen and felt the mischief and sometimes derided the absurdity God created the Sun and the Moon said Moses that is said the extravagants of Pope Boniface the 8th the Pope and the Emperour And Behold here are two swords said S. Peter It is enough said Christ enough for S. Peter and so he got the two swords the temporal and spiritual said the gloss upon that Text. Of these things there is no beginning and no end no certain principles and no good conclusion These are the two ways of expounding all Scriptures these are as the two witnesses of God by the first of which he does most commonly and by the latter of which he does sometimes declare his meaning and in the discovery of these meanings the Measures which I have now given you are the general land-marks and are sufficient to guide us from destructive errours It follows in the next place that I give you some Rules that are more particular according to my undertaking that you in your duty and your charges in the provisions to be made for them may be more secure 1. Although you are to teach your people nothing but what is the Word of God yet by this Word I understand all that God spake expresly and all that by certain consequence can be deduced from it Thus Dionysius Alexandrinus argues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that in Scripture is called the Son and the Word of the Father I conclude he is no stranger to the essence of the Father And S. Ambrose derided them that called for express Scripture for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since the Prophets and the Gospels acknowledge the unity of substance in the Father and the Son and we easily conclude the Holy Ghost to be God because we call upon him and we call upon him because we believe in him and we believe in him because we are baptized into the faith and profession of the Holy Ghost This way of teaching our Blessed Saviour us'd when he confuted the Sadduces in the Question of the Resurrection and thus he confuted the Pharisees in the Question of his being the Son of God The use I make of it is this that right reason is so far from being an exile from the inquiries of Religion that it is the great ensurance of many propositions of faith and we have seen the faith of men strangely alter but the reason of man can never alter every rational truth supposing its principles being eternal and unchangeable All that is to be done here is to see that you argue well that your deduction be evident that your reason be right for Scripture is to our understandings as the grace of God to our wills that instructs our reason and this helps our wills and we may as well chuse the things of God without our wills and delight in them without love as understand the Scriptures or make use of them without reason Quest. But how shall our reason be guided that it may be right that it be not a blind guide but direct us to the place where the star appears and point us to the very house where the babe lieth that we may indeed do as the wise men did To this I answer 2. In the making deductions the first great measure to direct our reason and our inquiries is the analogy of faith that is let the fundamentals of faith be your Cynosura your great light to walk by and whatever you derive from thence let it be agreeable to the principles from whence they come It is the rule of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that prophesies do it according to the proportion of faith that is let him teach nothing but what is revealed or agreeable to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime credibilities of Christianity that is by the plain words of Scripture let him expound the less plain and the superstructure by the measures of the foundation and doctrines be answerable to faith and speculations relating to practice and nothing taught as simply necessary to be believed but what is evidently and plainly set down in the holy Scriptures for he that calls a proposition necessary which the Apostles did not declare to be so or which they did not teach to all Christians learned and unlearned he is gone beyond his proportions For every thing is to be kept in that order where God hath plac'd it there is a classis of necessary Articles and that is the Apostles Creed which Tertullian calls regulam fidei the rule of faith and according to this we must teach necessities but what comes after this is not so necessary and he that puts upon his own doctrines a weight equal to this of the Apostles declaration either must have an Apostolical authority and an Apostolical infallibility or else he transgresses the proportion of faith and becomes a false Apostle 3. To this purpose it is necessary that you be very diligent in reading laborious and assiduous in the studies of Scripture not only lest ye be blind seers and blind guides but because without great skill and learning ye cannot do your duty A Minister may as well sin by his ignorance as by his negligence because when light springs from so many angles that may enlighten us unless we look round about us and be skill'd in all the angles of reflection we shall but turn our backs upon the Sun and see nothing but our own shadows Search the Scriptures said Christ Non dixit legite sed scrutamini said S. Chrysostome quia oportet profundius effodere ut quae altè delitescunt invenire possimus Christ did not say read but search the Scriptures turn over every page inquire narrowly look diligently converse with them perpetually be mighty in the Scriptures for that which is plain there is the best measures of our faith and of our doctrines The Jews have a saying Qui non advertit quod supra infra in Scriptoribus legitur is pervertit verba Dei viventis He that will understand Gods meaning must look above and below and round about for the meaning of the Spirit of God is not like the wind