Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	bishop_n	church_n	jurisdiction_n	5,357	5	9.3309	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75749	A remonstrance, against presbitery. Exhibited by divers of the nobilitie, gentrie, ministers and inhabitants of the county palatine. of Chester with the motives of that remonstrance. Together with a short survey of the Presbyterian discipline. Shewing the inconveniences of it; and the inconsistency thereof with the constitution of this state, being in its principles destructive to the laws and liberties of the people. With a briefe review of the institution, succession, iurisdiction of the ancient and venerable order of bishops. Found to bee instituted by the Apostles, continued ever since, grounded on the lawes of God, and most agreeable to the law of the land. / By Sir Thomas Aston baronet.	Aston, Thomas, Sir, 1600-1645.	1641 (1641)	Wing A4078; Thomason E163_1; Thomason E163_2; ESTC R212696	75,691	128

and the nature of Free-men would to so grave a Senate administer as much matter of serious consideration implie as much need of Reformation as a large invective full of bitter reviling which might more convince us of want of Charitie than the Bishops of Moderation being virulence of Spirit never argued either Civility or Christianitie never tended to piety or unity nor advanced either Religion or good Order g Hoc reperiemus nimiam mor ofitatem ex superbia magis fastu falsa que sanctitatis opinione quam ex vera sanctitate veroqueejus studio nasci Itaque qui ad faciendum ab Ecclesiâ defectiones sunt aliis audaciores quasi Antesignani ij ut plurimum nihil aliud causae habent nisi ut omnium contemptu ostentent se aliis esse meliores Calvin Institut lib. 4. Cap. 1. sect 13. Calvin observes that too much bitternesse or obstinacy springs rather from pride and disdaine and a false opinion of holinesse then from true sanctity or the desire thereof And that such as are forwards and the leaders of others in their defection from the Church have for the most part no other cause but their owne selfe conceipt thinking themselves better than all men else But if either processe of time or discontinuance of Parliaments have admitted any superstructures of exorbitant power doubtlesse the wisedome of the House instructed with the steerage of the State would reduce such without our clamours For such complaints as are against the temporall power of the Bishops wee know of no such thing inherent to the Order h Si quam habent Episcopi potestatem gladii hanc non habent ut Episcopi ex mandato Evangelit sed jure humano do natam â Regibus Imperatoribus ad administrationem civilem suorum honorum Haec interim alia functio est quam ministerium Evangelii Melancthon Articul fidei 37. In his speech the 23. of Ianuarie Melancthon tells us if they have any power of the sword it is of humane institution given them by Kings and Emperours if so certainly ejus est revocare cujus est dare And where a gracious Prince ex mero motu and I may say ex puro amore out of a tender affection to the peace and welfare of his people hath freely offered a retraction of such temporall authority i If upon serious debate you shall shew that Bishops have some temporall authority not so necessarie for the government of the Church and upholding of Episcopall iurisdiction I shall not bee unwilling to desire them to lay it downe as is not necessary for the government of the Church it is more proper for the debate of his great Councell to decide the poynt than befitting the importunity of us his much satisfied subjects especially with such violence as relishes rather a sentence than a supplication Quia non consensum quaerit sed dissidium auget qui quod fact is praestatur verbis exigit But for the Office and Order it selfe 't is confessed we were so farre from joyning with them either in their prayer of abolition or the ●n●ecency of their Language that 't was thought it became us to vindicate the Countrey consisting of Civill Gentrie from the imputation of such incivilitie as that petition if it had past as the Act of our Countie might perhaps fixe upon us And more then in our owne excuse of not joyning with them we presumed not to move any thing for or against the Bishops but being wee intimated our feare that these practises and tenets tended to introduce a Presbyterie 't was necessarie to shew we had no hand in that Petition which would have no Bishops lest we might seem to desire neither These prejudices of opinion thus removed I hope men will with more cleare eyes see the Integritie of our intentions and will with us in time take heed of Wolves especially when they appear in sheeps cloathing As we are a Gentrie who for Antiquity shall subscribe to none so I hope shall we ever testifie our zeale as great our resolutions as firme to preserve our ancient liberties as any Countrie whatsoever And I believe if any had our provocation they would have made our complaint A Survey of Presbytery SECT 1. The Designe of some Presbyterians T IS an ill presage of worse events to begin with the subversion of Gods house the Church It is not Reformation but totall Innovation many men look for 'T was a signe of no good intent when such a petition must bee smother'd up from the knowledge and Counsells of the Gentrie And though it were supprest after it had beene spread abroad as perhaps finding the times not ripe for a full discovery of their occult designes yet to those that will see it gives light enough that under pretext of Reforming the Church the true aime of such spirits is to shake off the yoke of all obedience either to Ecclesiasticall Civill Common Statute or the Customarie Lawes of the Kingdome and to introduce a meere Arbitrary Government But it may perhaps be said this is but the fancy of some distempered Zelots in that part onely and that I doe but raise a shadow and fight with it let such compare well the harmonie of other licentious raylers whose pamphlets garnish every stall and the concurrence of those of the same straine in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James with the present positions and petition complained of and I dare promise they shall finde them all of a peece all champions for the Presbyterie which they then cal'd The great cause the Holy cause which as they then declared k Rogers his Preface to the Articles they will never leave suing for though there should be a thousand Parliaments untill either they obtaine it And lately preach'd by Eaton in Chester in the pulpit to the like effect or bring the Lord in vengeance and bloud upon the State and the whole land for repelling the same With what Method Iustice and Moderation they goe about it is worth the observation SECT 2. The Method of their proceedings IN this Chart of their petition we may find our selves plac'd among the Antipodes to all order rather than in a State govern'd by Lawes It hath been the Method of former times that the Parliament the Primates the Nobiles with the minores Nobiles the Gentrie consult and dispence the rules of government the Plebeians submit to and obey them But in their Petition ordine converso petitioners Plebeians assume to give judgement the Parliament must execute the Nobility and Gentrie suffer by it They make not any one proof or complaint against any one Bishop or their order yet clearely sentence them all l Their Petition note 2. Martin Marprelate f. 11. 12. Engl. Compl. to Jesus Christ That the Hierarchie is that beast to which the Dragon gave his power fol. 11. All Prelaticall government is papal ib. The Bishops the limbes of the great beast of no

truth which yet I must avow The Cheshire Remonstrance improperly called A Petition Secondly abused by an absolute untruth the spurious issue of some brain-sick Anabaptist injuriously fathered upon that County and stiled The answer to that Petition therein disavowing me yet I must give him more thanks that printed the latter then the first That exposed me to censure This invites me to justifie my self to vindicate my Countrey The first starting out naked without the papers to which it relates appears like a shadow without a substance or a Comment without a Text yeelds every man discourse few men satisfaction To explain this Riddle I have inserted that Petition those posititions which were annext and were the occasion of our Remonstrance Thou that art doubtfull or hast censured Ex parte take in evidence the whole truth then give thy verdict The latter hath nothing in it worth my answer nor thy note but that it is meerly fictitious false In toto in qualibet parte Never any such Petition seen in Cheshire never presented to the house noe such persons ever signed it For thy better satisfaction know we have but five Noblemen in Cheshire four of which signed the first Petition of Knights Baronets Knights and Esquires I know not above two in the whole County that do desire the abolition of the Episcopall order we have not in all so many Divines as are said to have underwrit and fourscore and ten of those have signed the Remonstrance most of the rest were never asked And for the Gentry and inhabitants I do confidently beleeve not one of either but will protest against that Libell not one of a hundred but that question being singlely stated whether they desire the continuance of Bishops or to submit to a Presbytery will with their hands witnesse their hearts affections to the preservation of that order established by our Laws the observation of which Laws must preserve the continuation of our liberties But thou wilt lesse admire his boldnesse to traduce a Countrey when thou shalt finde him so impudent as to belie the Gospel To delude the ignorant or negligent Reader he stuffs his Margin full of Texts of which thou shalt not finde one for his purpose He takes upon him to prove that the Apostles alwayes ordained sundry Bishops in every particular Congregation and those of equall power and authority for proofe whereof he quotes Act 11.30 Acts 11. verse 27 28 29 30. C. a lapide Acts 11.31 but take the precedent verses with it and see what thou canst conclude thence a. And in those days came Prophets from Hierusalem to Antioch and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth thorowout all the world which came to passe in the dayes of Claudius Caesar Then the Disciples every man aecording to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Iudea which also they did and sent it to the Elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul By which it is very probable as is the opinion of C. a Lapide and others was chiefly meant the Deacons (b) Nec alia tunc fuit Diaconorum ratio quam sub Apostolis oblationes enim fidelium quotidianas et anuos Ecclesiae proventus recipiebant ut conferent in veros usus id est partim Ministris partim pauperibus alendis distribuerent Episcopi tamen arbitrio cui oeconomiae suae rationes quotidianas reddebant Calvin Institut lib 4. cap. 4. sect 5. whose office was to collect and treasure up the benevolences for the reliefe of the Presbyters and of the poor as is agreed by all Writers Now he would apply the word Elders which is in the Latine Presbyteri onely to the Bishops whereas that word did usually imply all the Ministers of the Church As it is explained by that vast learned Lyra and the harmony of all the Fathers upon that place of Acts 14. (c) Lyra cap. 14. Acts Tom. 6. fol. 1144. Et cum instituissent illis per singulas Ecclesias Presbyteros c. dicit nomine presbyterorum intelliguntur etiam alii Ecclesiae Ministri ut Episcopi Diaconi huiusmodi Vid. Chrysostome upon the Epist to Titus fol. 1700. And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church c. He sayes by the name of Elders is also to be understood all other Ministers of the Church as Bishops and Deacons and such like All the rest of his quotations are but meere citing of Texts out of a Concordance where ever he findes the word Elder quoting it for a Bishop never observing whether it be for him or against him As to prove them of equall authority he cites 1 Tim. 5.17 Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour 't is a strange conclusion ergo equall in authority (d) Chrysost 1. cap. ad Titum Paulus Tito multorum Episcopor iudicium commisit Likewise to prove that one Bishop is not set over many Churches he quotes Titus who as it appears by the subscription of that Epistle was ordained the first Bishop of the Cretians Saint Chrysostome upon that Chapter sayes Paul committed to Titus the judgement of many Bishops And Lyra (e) Lyra paulus instituit Titum Archi Episcopum Cretensium upon the same Chapter that Paul instituted Titus Archbishop of the Cretians with whom agree our late Writers amongst which Erasmus more fully in his Argument on the Epistle to Titus observes (f) Erasmus tom 6. fol. 354. Titum discipulum suum ob eximias dotes Insulae nobilissimoe Cretae praefecerat Apostolus illic abiens Archiepiscopum consecrarat monet autem quod ipse apud Cretenses per singulas civitates episcopos instituat quos presbyteros vocat idoneum episcopi formam praescribens c. that Paul set Titus his Disciple for his excellent gifts over the Cretians and departing thence consecrated him Archbishop admonishing him to institute Bishops which he also calls Presbyters in every Citty prescribing him the fit endowments of a Bishop With like liberty doth he abuse History unworthily assuming the name of that reverend Patriot Archbishop Vsher Vsher de britannie● ecclesiae primord to patronize his fictions who onely historically recites the severall opinions of Authors concerning the first induceing of the Christian faith into England whether by Iames the son of Zebedec Simon Zelotes Simon Peter or Ioseph of Arimathea ann 63. after Christ (g) Vsher ibid. fol 7. si quidem Metaphrastae credimus apud quem legimus petrum in britann longo tempore fuisse moratum c. ecclesias constituisset episcopos presbyteros diaconos ordinasset 12. Caesaris Neronis rursus Romam reversum esse or others which if all admitted for truths conclude nothing to the governing of the land withou Bishops for some hundred yeers from the first plantation of the Gospel but rather the cleer contrary I shal give thee Reader that

of an imaginary good they many times covet their owne ruine These sugred baits of parity and libertie infus'd into vulgar apprehensions under the pretext of pietie and reformation are such popular poysons as will soon o're spread the body of the Common-wealth and corrupt or dissolve the Nerves Ligaments of Government conformity to Lawes if not early prevented by those precious Antidotes against Confusion Loyalty and Constancy SECT 5. A Discussion whether they seek to pull downe or advance the Clergie LEt us then ere wee imbrace the thoughts of such a totall subversion of the Fabrick of a Church and State examine whether such Reformers aime at our liberty or their owne advancement whether such bitternesse of Spirit proceed from zeale to truth or emulation of the order c What a Monopoly is this to take away the title wherein the office of all true Pastors is comprehended and to transferre it to one alone among many Christs Throne fol 43. Is it to clip the wings of the Clergie that they soare not too high that these men crie out against Episcopall jurisdiction or rather is it not to Imp out their broken Feathers that they may mount above the reach of all Lawes Is it to regulate any exorbitant power in them or rather is it not to make their power as indefinite This Monopoly is a mysterie of mischiefes view Prelat Church fol. 3. as their numbers are infinite Is it not really to pull downe 26. Bishops and set up 9324. potentiall Popes when in effect the Pastor of every parish Church must be such The consequences these men promise to themselves in their petition seconded by the writing of their fellow-laborers promise no lesse which are First to quit themselves from the circumscription of any Ecclesiasticall Authoritie either in discipline or doctrine d Their petition note 16. View of the Prelaticall Church fol. 16. They pray that the revealed will of God contained in the books of the old and new Testament may be the rule that wee should follow As if certainly this whole State and Church had all this while followed a wrong Guide e Their petition note 17. d That the morall doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles may bee old Englands Canons of which themselves must be Expositors as if all Canonicall obedience were a meere intrusion upon Gods word and had no foundation in Scripture Doe wee not know that Timothy and Titus were by Saint Paul set over the Churches of Ephesus and Crete and in the stile of both the Epistles by the interpretation of the Fathers appeare to have beene Bishops and to have Canonicall power committed to them f 1 Timoth. 1.3 To suppresse false doctrines g 2 Chap. 1.8 To direct time and place for prayer and supplications h 9. To prescribe formes of apparrell i 11. To impose silence upon women k 1 Timoth. 3.2 12. To institute Bishops and Deacons l 1 Timoth. 5.19 To receive accusations and to punish Elders m Ibid. 22. To ordaine Ministers n Titus 3.10 To admonish and reject obstinate Heretiques * 1 Timoth. 1.20 To excommunicate such as blaspheme And these things not transmitted to them as doctrines but as part of their jurisdiction o 1 Timoth. 4 11. These things command and teach and rebuke with all authoritie * Titus 2.15 And let no man despise thee So that here wee may see a foundation of Ecclesiasticall Government laid even by the Apostles themselves and to us enjoyned obedience And though in the infancie of the Gospell when q Matth. 8.20 Luke 9.58 The Son of man had not where to lay his head when his Disciples all past thorow the fire of Martyrdome and no free State scarce any whole Village had received the Gospell even Rome it selfe was for many ages after the seat of the Heathen Emperours r Fox his Martyrs fol. 39. under whose terrible persecutions the Church was scattered into corners and deserts where they could best hide themselves It could not then I say be expected that so exact a platforme of Discipline should be laid down to governe handfuls as was after necessarie to be extended to sway the converted Christian world Yet then did Paul see the necessity both of instituting rules of government putting the execution into the hands of some supreme power To which purpose as Erasmus observes ſ Eras tom 6. fol. 343. Timotheum Paulus in ministerium adoptarat probae indolis juvenem sacris literis eruditum Quoniam autem huic Ecclesiarum curam delegarat sicut Tito instituit eum in sunctione Episcopali Hee elected Timothy a hopefull young man and learned in holy writ into the ministerie and that hee might commit to him the care of the Churches instituted him as also Titus in the office of a Bishop And Saint Hierome t Hieronymus Dialogo adversus Luciferianos Ecclesiae satus in summi Sacerd●ti● dignitate pendet cuis●●on exors quaedam ob omnibus e●●inens detur potest as tot in Ecclesiis efficientur Schismata quot Sacerdotes gives the reason of the necessitie of such superintendencie in the Church for sayes he The safetie of the Church depends upon the dignitie of the chiefe Priest to whom if some extraordinarie power above the rest bee not given there would bee as many schismes in the Church as there are Pastors If then the Institution of Ecclesiasticall Government were Apostolicall the administration committed by Saint Paul himselfe to prime Presbyters or as all ancient Fathers agree to Bishops Let us next see whether such Ecclesiasticall Lawes have beene deduced downe to our fore-fathers in a continued current from the fountaine head the Apostles or are but as these charitable men stile them The Reliques of Romish Tyranny SECT 6. The Ecclesiasticall Lawes agreeable to Gods word I Have in the Epistle formerly set forth the first plantation of the Gospell in England in the time of Lucius u Fox his Martyrs fol. 34. Archbishop Vsher De primord Eccles fol. 54 59. about the yeare 169. when as Elutherius then Bishop of Rome shewes from what principles wee derive our Ecclesiasticall Lawes In his lettet to Lucius King of Britaine he writes thus Fox Martyrs fol. 108. Vsher De Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis fol 102. Yee require the Roman Lawes and the Emperors to be sent over to you The Roman Lawes and Emperours we may ever reprove but the Law of God we may not w Esutherii rescriptum ad Lucium Britanniae Regem Petistis a nobis Leges Romanas Caesaris vobis transmitti quibus in Regno Britanniae uti voluistis c. Habetis penes vos in regno utramque paginam ex illis Dei gratia per Consilium regni vestri sume legem per illam Dei patientia vestrum rege Britanniae regnum Yee have received of late through Gods mercie in the Realme of Britaine the

us see how they deale with one of their owne one Bluet being excommunicated writes to the Brethren that he might be restored to the Church from which hee had beene long kept out m Bishop Bancroft fol. 117. Woe is me saith hee that J am cast out of your presence this day And if this woe and shame did but touch the body it were tollerable for then at the day of death I should end my miserie and no more heare the words of reproach But woe is me that there is a partition wall between heaven and my Conscience If my offence may not be passed by without further confession even before God and his Church in London will I lye downe and lick the dust at your feet See here you eager advocates for the advancing of this holy Discipline the pretious fruits you are like to reape by it Such as these will teach you perfect humility They have learnt of Rehoboams Counsellors n 2 Chron. 10.10 To make their little finger thicker than the Bishops loynes Their punishments perhaps wrung the purse but those will grate the soule And if wee should well examine upon what easie occasions this fearefull sentence flyes out we should much more feare it Suckliffe 132. At Geneva two Ministers were deposed and banish'd for speaking against usurie Iohn Morelli for saying the words Tell the Church were not alone appropriate to the Consistorie and is frequently used upon everie private Grudge Whereas no man ought to bee excommunicate but where the Law saith hee should be condemned If Law bee King and will a Tyrant sure all that will preserve Law and will love libertie unwillingly submit their necks to the Tyrannicall yoak of such Discipline SECT 15. The forme of Discipline they prescribe is confessed to be a yoak YEt oh say many here is so excellent a forme of Government the Parochiall Presbyter can runne into no extravagance but hee is accomptable to the Presbyterie or Classitall meeting which consists of particular Kirks in such a Circuit o Report of Church Government And what 's the businesse there Not to suppresse but to exercise the power of Iurisdiction By the Ordinances of Geneva they first imprison after banish him that will not stand to the Ordinances of the Consistories Order Art 91. Ordination suspension Deprivation but principally all persons of whatsoever quality disobedient to their Ministers and Elders are with great Authoritie censured So here we must learne obedience to the wills of men not of Lawes Yet these Classes againe are responsall to the Provinciall Synods And they perhaps may regulate the rigour of the Presbyters But doe not the Pastors of New England tell us A modest Advertisement of Church Government fol. 10. That no Pastors by Gods word have authoritie over others for that every Minister hath his power both of Order and Iurisdiction immediately from Christ Iesus and therefore to him onely is responsible for the Doctrine hee teaches the Discipline hee exercises and the Censures that hee inflicts Therfore say they for any number of Ministers in a Synod to take to themselves Authoritie over others who are equall in Dignitie is to set up a Humane Authoritie that Christ never instituted and to exercise a Tyrannie and Poperie of the Presbyterie as bad nay worse than Bishops Yet there is a higher appeale to the Nationall Assembly and there the Records of Synods are perused Acts and Constitutions for all Kirkes are agreed upon with common consent And will they obey these Constitutions Some confesse that in the Assembly of the Apostles certaine observances were imposed on the Churches p Acts 15.28 But this Act of the Apostles say they is no president or patterne for succeeding ages for the Apostles were inspired with the Holy Ghost and when any Assembly can infallibly assure them they are inspired with the Holy Ghost then they will obey q Christ on his throne fol. 57. But though they will admit no Law or Superiour over themselves yet here perhaps the Laitie may receive reliefe against the rigor of their Censures for one tels us r Report of the Government of the Church by a Presbytery All Appellations Petitions Grievances and Complaints are examined and determined by this supream highest Kirk Iudicatorie what redresse we may expect hence we are informed immediately before they are responsible onely to Iesus Christ And the same reporter plainly tells us The perpetuall Kirks are not governed by the intrinsecall power of any one or many set over them as in the Monarchicall Government of Prelates but they are ruled and judged by themselves If so wee had need have a strong faith in their Integrities for if we admit a possibility of doing wrong in them we leave very little probabilitie of receiving right for first they are accomptable onely to Christ Next they are both judges and parties Those that give false judgement in the Classes are judges in the Synods in the Nationall assemblies and from them is no appeale to any Prince in the world for they sit in Christs Throne And this is utterly destructive to the peoples libertie Now in this whole Gradation of Church government by Presbyteries Classes Synods and Nationall Assemblies What 's become of our old superintendent power of Parliaments wee have all this while beene perswaded That Episcopacy is inconsistent with this State as exercising some power not warranted by our Lawes we are strongly excited by some Disciplinarians to root them out for attempting to put in execution some Constitutions not ratified by Parliament Yet now we must learne That the Parliament cannot hinder these Disciplinarians to make Lawes Ecclesiasticall seeing Ecclesiasticall Government is independant That generall Assemblies may recall Acts ratified in Parliament which being annulled In their Synods they disannull all Lawes they conceive repugnant to their Discipline Suckliffe fol. 131. the Civill ratification falls ex Consequenti And though our Lawes make voyd all Canons or Constitutions repugnant to the Kings prerogative or the Lawes and Customes of the Kingdome which preserve our liberties yet we must now know that no power nor libertie ought to be permitted to any State Degree or Authority whatsoever they be to live without the yoake of Discipline Å¿ Knox his exhortation pag. 91. 92. Et tali jugo libertatem induimus And is all our long labour'd liberty become a yoke A yoke unavoydable a yoke unsupportable Truely if this be so we may truely write Sic vos non vobis sertis Aratra Boves We have spun a faire thread That Kings the nursing Fathers and Queens the nursing Mothers of Syon t Isaiah 49.23 the supreame Governours of the Church Princes the heads of their Fathers houses u Numb 7.2 Princes of the Tribes whose office is to rule in judgement Nobles that conferre blessing upon that land where their sonnes inherite the Crowne w Isaiah 32.1 Gentrie the flowers of this garden of Europe fenc'd