Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	believe_v	church_n	infallibility_n	2,898	5	12.0726	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10190	Lord bishops, none of the Lords bishops. Or A short discourse, wherin is proved that prelaticall jurisdiction, is not of divine institution, but forbidden by Christ himselfe, as heathenish, and branded by his apostles for antichristian wherin also sundry notable passages of the Arch-Prelate of Canterbury in his late booke, intituled, A relation of a conference, &c. are by the way met withall.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1640 (1640)	STC 20467; ESTC S115311	76,101	90

good as the former and no better For what Laws of the Realme doth he account just Those that crosse any Prelaticall practises and Antichristian lawlesse courses of his Spirituall Courts Surely those are not to be ranked among the just Laws of the Realme those must needs be unjust Laws which are made to restraine the Infolencie and Lawlesse proceedings of Prelaticall Courts Which is the reason that now of late under this Archprelate Prohibitions out of the Kings bench to the High-Commission are so gueason so well Schooled are both Lawyers to move and Judges to grant any such thing Thus the Prelates practises are a sufficient Commentary of his owne words So as the Summe of this his whole passage is That his Church of England must submit her beliefe to her Arch Bishops and Bishops as visible Iudges left by Christ to governe and to determine all matters of difference in point of Faith and Religion and that according to Scripture too so farre as they crosse not her own Canons and those of the Catholicke Church wherein England and Rome are one and the Same one Church of one Faith of one Religion And all this if we may beleeve her Metropolitan the Church of England beleeves O miserable Church CHAP. IIII. Wherein some other Passages of the Prelate in his Booke touching the Authority of his Hierarchie are met withall and confuted by evidence of Scripture IN his * Epistle Dedicatory he hath these words She the Church of England practises Church-Government as it hath been in use in all Ages and all Places where the Church of Christ hath taken any rooting both in and ever since the Apostles times and yet the Seperatist condemnes her for Antichristianisme in her Discipline So he A bold Speech and the more bold because most false and hath nothing but his bare Ipse dixit his naked affirmation as Authority sufficient Whence I note sundry particulars First that he calleth the Hierarchie or Ecclesiasticall Government therof the Church of England A thing familiar with Prelates to make themselves the Church And such a Church as that of Rome the Pope and his Priests or Prelates are the Church as themselves affirme Whereas indeed as Iunius hath well distinguished ● they are not the Body it selfe of the Church but ●●ennes or swellings grown up and so incorporated into the Body as overspreading it like a Leprosie it assumes the denomination of the Body And such are Prelates who in the Church of England are Strumae great swellings like the Kings Evill which are commonly next the Head or about the necke in the most principall parts of the Body Onely in this they will not be called the Kings Evill because they claime their Originall from Christ as before is noted and therfore though they be but certaine Abscessus or Apostemes and so indeed Apostat●s from the true Church of Christ which not onely deforme the Body but greatly in danger the life thereof yet the name of Church they challenge in peculiar to themselves But surely the true Church of Christ in England disclaimes communion with such a false Church as the Hierarchie calls it selfe Secondly he saith that his Church or Prelaticall Government hath been in all Times and Places where the Church of Christ hath taken any rooting Here he finely excludes all the Protestant Reformed Churches as no Churches of Christ because they have weeded out those * bittet roots whereby many are defiled and rooted up those plants ‡ which our heavenly Father hath not planted to wit all Prelates with their Hierar●hicall Government which being rooted out of those Churches the Gospell blessed be God and so the true Church of Christ hath taken the deeper and firmer rooting and brought forth the more abundant ‡ fruits of holin●sse But the Prelate in thus unchurching all true Reformists is as good as his word which he openly spake at Dr. Bastwicks Censure in High-Commission saying The Protestant Churches beyond the Seas were no Churches as having no Bishops calling Calvin a plaine Rascall But so long as those Churches have the true Bishops namely Orthodox and Sound Pastors to feed their severall ●locks it is not the Arch-prelate that can so easily degrade them from being Christs true Churches as he can deprive those Ministers both of Ministry and Meanes who are obnoxious to his Church-Go●ernment Thirdly where he saith that his Church-Government hath been in use in all Ages and in all Places where the Church of Christ hath taken any rooting both In and ever since the Apostles times although this be most false yet were it true it would not therupon follow that this his Church-Government is either Apostolicall or jure divino or from Christ For first every thing that hath been in use in the Apostles times and in the true Church of Christ is not therfore Apostolicke or such as the true Church of Christ alloweth of For we read that the Mistery of Iniquity began to worke in the Apostles times and even then there were § many Antichrists and that in the very midst of the Church in those dayes † And if Prelates shall prove to be those Antichrists which the Apostles detected and described by their qualities as will appeare anon● then because such Antichrists were extant and their Church-Government in use in the Apostles times will the Prelate therfore conclude such were Apostolicke and had their Originall jure divino Secondly neither can the Prelate ever prove that his Prelaticall Government as now of later and of long time it hath been is any thing like to the Church-Government exercised by those who took upon them to be the first Diocesan or Provinciall Bishops in those ages succeeding the Apostles He that shall read the Centuries Cat●lagus Testiun● veritatis and other true Church Stories shall find as vast a difference between those poore ancient Bishops both in their manner of life and Church-Government and the moderne Prelotes since Antichrist mounted aloft in his Pontificalibus as the * Poet makes between the Silver Age and the Iron Age or as the ‡ Prophet shews between the brazen brest of the Image of the Babylonish Empire and the feet mixt of iron and clay And that Image may well resemble the State of the Spirituall Babylon or Hierarchy which had its rise of simple and small beginnings but by degrees Successively it grew and got strength and both height and bredth and so became at length of a blind Brooke a goodly navigable River so as the Church turned a City of Traffique and Trade in all worldly pleasures and riches as Babylon is described Revel. 18. and so the more worldly it grew the more wicked proud tyrannicall lordly and imperious and of a Militant Church turned Triumphant as the Prelate himselfe saith of Rome so as now the Church Government of the Prelates in regard of their great Courts and Consistories and doing all things without the Presbytery● is as much unlike that ancient

Arch-Prelate or Primate then he confesseth that Archiprelaticall Iurisdiction is grounded upon Canon and Positive Law and so consequently not upon the Holy Scriptures as being jure divino And thus much he confessed in open Court at the High Commission at Doctor BASTVVICKS Censure that no one of the Apostles had Iurisdiction one over another and so consequently not an Arch-Prelate over other Prelates jure divino but onely jure Canonico Positivo by Canon and Positive Law Arch-Prelates therfore have no Iurisdiction by divine Institution Or if he meane it of subjection of Ministers in every Diocese to their Prelates respectively that this also is grounded upon Canon and Positive Law though so he should say truly yet in so saying he should contradict himselfe as where he saith elsewhere That Christ thought it fitter to governe the Church universall Aristocratically by diverse rather then by one Vice-Roy As much to say rather by many Popes then by one And this saith he I beleeve to be true So as he makes it an Article of his Faith That Prelates are jure divino Yet but a little before in the same page it is not certaine that the whole Militant Church is a Kingdome for there are no meane ones saith he which thinke our Saviour Christ left the Church Militant in the hands of the Apostles and their Successors in an Aristocraticall or rather mixt government c. So as what others and those no meane ones Thinke the Prelate beleeves And the Government which some thinke and he beleeves to be Aristocraticall he understands to be Prelaticall which saith he is Aristocraticall or rather a mixt Government What meanes he by a mixt Government Namely partly Aristocraticall and partly Monarchicall for of those two he there speaketh His meaning then is that a Prelate is in part in Monarch But where doe we find that Christ thought it fittest to Governe his Church by Prelats that the Prelate is so confident to beleeve it It seems he is one of Christs Cabinet Counsellors that he is so intimately privie to his thoughts For surely Christ hath no where left the impression of any such thought of his in his written word But I suppose the Prelate doth but presume so or charitably beleeve Christ thought so Me thinks he should not so beleeve it as to write upon it I beleeve this is true But thus I say this faith of his overthrows the credit of his former Saying That Prelates with their effectuall Subjection are grounded upon Canon or Positive Law and so have no Authority from Christ as the Prelate a little before affirmeth of what force is his Canon For there speaking of the Pope he saith Nay out of all doubt 't is not the least reason why de facto he hath so little successe because de jure he hath no power given But how then is it that some few * pages before he saith that some one must be Ordine Primus to avoyd confusion● and he speakes there of the Rom●e Prelate It is then of necessity that there must be one Ordine Primus to avoyd confusion in the Catholick Church Militant which elswhere he makes to be visible and Hierarchicall or Prelaticall then did not Christ leave so much exprest in writing but to Canon and Positive Law But perhaps Christ thought it best and the Prelate so beleeves Thus we see here is nothing but Ridd●es Ambiguities and Contradictions or Enterfeerings with our Prelate What course then shall we take for a cleare resolution of the Question That Prelates as themselves affirme are jure divino Certainly if they be jure divino they must shew good proofe for it in the written word of God And to this Rule we must hold them and to this onely For it were to tread an endlesse maze to goe about to prove a Divine Title or Authority out of the Volumes of humane writings or Ecclesias●icall Histories They can tell us de facto what hath been but that Prelates are de jure divine that we must search for in the Sacred Records of Divine writ If there we find it well and good but if there it be not but the contrary then all humane writings are in this point to be rejected as of no credit or value Come we therfore to the Scripture which will clearely tell us what Christ thought of this matter CHAP. II. Wherein is proved That CHRIST expresly condemneth all Prelacie or Hierarchie as flatly forbidding it to his Apostles and Disciples MATH 20. 29 c. Then came to him the Mother of Zebedees children with her Sons worshiping him and desiring a certaine thing of him And he said unto her what wilt thou She saith unto him G●ant that these my two Sonnes may sit the one on thy right hand and the other on thy lest in thy Kingdome But Jesus answered and said Ye know not ●hat ye aske Are ye able to drinke of the Cup that I shall drinke of and to be baptised with the Baptisme that I am baptised with They say unto him we are able And he saith unto them ye shall drinke indeed of my Cup and be baptised with the Baptisme that I am baptised with but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shal be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father And when the ten heard it they were moved with indignation against the two brethren But Jesus called them unto him and said Ye know that the Princes of the ●entiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them But it shall not be so among you but whosoever wil be chiefe among you let him be your Servant Even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many In these words as we see the mind of these as yet carnall Disciples So on the other side we see the mind of Christ and what he thought of Prelacy For Prelacy is that which they make such a solemne suit for They ambitiously affect Cathedram a Prelates Chaire or Throne they make suit to sit and that in the most prime Seat on the right and left hand of Christ And these two suiters were Christs Kinsmen Iames and Iohn A faire motive for promotion to a Prelacy For as the Saying is Dic●re vis Praest● De sanguine Praesulis esto Wouldst thou have Church Dignitee the Prelats Kinsman thou must be Or according to those old Verses Quatuor Ecclesias his Portis itur ad omnes Sanguinis Simonis Praesulis atque Dei Prima patet Claris nummatis altera Charis Tertia sed raris janua quarta patet Through these foure Gates all Churches wayes are trod Of Birth of Simon Prelate and of God The first for Nobles next for golden worth For Prelates Kin the third for few the fourth These two brethren would enter into the chiefe Cathedralls by the gate of Nobility as

and the Holy Ghost Now as we received the Holy Ghost by hearing of Faith preached So this Spirit of God doth guide us into all truth by and according unto the Scripture And as the Holy Ghost is as I may so say § begotten in us by the Seed of Gods word Sown in our hearts though properly we are begotten again by the Holy Ghost so this Holy Ghost is as it were nourished and preserved in us by and through the word of God even as the light of the Lamp is nourished by the Oyle or as the breath goeth with the voyce or word spoken or as the blood hath its course in the veins or the vitall Spirits have their S●at in the heart or as the Animall Spirits in the braine when they are derived into all the parts of the body in the Arteries and veines so as all the members are thereby actuated and moved And as the Philosopher saith of naturall bodies * A'panta trephétas tois a●utois e'x o`pér e`isi All things are nourished by selfe same Substance whereof they are begotten or have their beginning or beeing So in a sort it may truly be said that as we begin Spiritually to live by the Holy Ghost through Faith by the Preaching of the word of God So this Holy Ghost in the severall graces and operations there of is preserved and as it were nourished in us by the continuall ministration of the food of the same word in our Soules Or in a word the Holy Ghost hath no operation in us either for instruction or illumination or consolation or corroboration of any Grace in our Soules but in and by or according to the word of God So as besides Gods written word there are no revelations of the Spirit to be expected in Gods true Church Secondly therefore the promise of the Holy Ghost to Christs true Church and Children succeeding the Apostles even to the end of the world is made good to all and every particular member of Christs Mysticall body whether Ministers or People so as in the matter of their faith and whatsoever appertains to their salvation they are by Christs Spirit guided into all truth being led by the rule and light of Gods word which to those that are in Christ never goes unaccompanied with the Holy Ghost For even as * so many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God● So as If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his So none are led by the Spirit of God but those that are led by the word of God And therefore as Christs Spirit dwells in all his so his ‡ Word also For these two are inseperable the Holy Ghost teaching us no other things but what we find written in the word of Christ To which purpose Christ saith When § the Spirit of Truth is come be will guide you into all truth for he shall not speake of himselfe but whatsoever he shall heare that shall he speake Now the whole Scripture is Christs word this the Holy Ghost receiving from Christ revealed to his Apostles or as Christ saith † brought to their remembrance and the Apostles commited those things to writing as the Holy Ghost directed them for our both instruction and remembrance So as if * any Speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Whatever Spirit men bragge of not indurcing the Law and Testimony of the Scripture it is without light a counterfet Spirit a lying spirit And this is that very Spirit of Antichrist and of his Prelates who to advance their own Canons and Decrees and to cry up their usurped Antichristian Authority in taking upon them to be the onely visible Iudges in matters of faith as * before we have noted of our Prelate of Cant● as if they had the Spirit of Infallibility and were the onely men of Gods Privy Counsell and the onely Privilegiats not to erre doe so much depresse vi●ifie and cry down the Authority and Sufficiencie of the Scripture as if it were a ‡ dumbe dead and blind Iu●ge having not so much light in it as is sufficient to demonstrate it to be the word of God but what it must be beholden to the Authority and Tradition of the present Prelaticall Church●or But ● ye blind Guides § To the Law and to the Testimony for while ye Speake not accordiag to this word but contrariwise blaspheme the same it is a manifest signe that there is neither light nor ‡ life in you Come we now to prosecute the remainder of the former particulars propounded the second generall whereof is the Practise of the Apostles as they were Ministers of the Gospell whose example all true Ministers imitating are said to be their true Successors And first of this Practise in regard of Doctrine to wit in their Ministy of the Word and Sacraments First for their Doctrine it was sound and sincere the very word of God which they preached with all diligence and good Conscience exhorting other Ministers also to the like diligence and faithfullnesse in preaching as 2 Tim● 4. 1 2. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Iesus Christ c. Preach the word be instant in season out of season c. Thus did the Apostles But doe our Prelates thus First do they preach diligently Are their Sermons any more then 2 or 3 Festivalls in the yeare And doe they preach sound Doctrine Nay as the Apostle there saith They will not indure sound doctrine they neither preach it themselves nor permit others And instead of exhorting Ministers to be diligent in preaching and teaching the people they flatly forbid them to preach so of●en as twice on the Sabbath or to expound the Catechisine for instructing the People Thus they are enemies of Gods word and so of the salvation of Gods people Are these men then Successors of the Apostles Againe for the two Sacraments the Apostles administred them duly according to ‡ Christs institution not varying one title from it they neither detracted any thing from i● nor added ought of their own inventions Now doth the Prelaticall Catholicke Church wherein that of England and of Rome are both one and the same and doe professe one and the same faith and Religion as our great Prelate saith noted before thus Now Romes detractions and additions we all know But what hath the Prelaticall Church of England done in this kind 1. Doe they not detract both from Christs institution and from the dignity of the Sacraments while they set dumb Priests no better then Masse-Priests to administer Doe they not detract from Baptisme while they doe as much debase it in comparison of the Lords Supper as they doe exalt this which they * call the Great Eucharist in comparison of that Do they not administer that neere the Belfrey or Church-door the lowest part of the Church as they estimate it