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
A80283	Complaints concerning corruptions and grievances in church-government. Dedicated and directed to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, the Right Honourable Lords; and the Honourable House of Commons, now assembled in Parliament. By certain peaceably affected Presbyters, of the Church of England; in the name of all the rest of their brethren. Undertaking to maintain the truth of their assertions, against whatsoever contradictors, if by publique edict of supream authority they be called forth, granting them as safe and free audience as their adversaries and judges, not preingaged, or preresolved for either side.		1660 (1660)	Wing C5626; Thomason E1047_6; ESTC R208100	8,781	15

is there constituted must be held inviolable what is a deviation from that must be accounted Apostacy and Corruption as well in Discipline as in Doctrine no Plea of Antiquity or Universality can priviledge it from that imputation what is not therein appointed must at most be held but as conducent not necessary No though it be proved to be received into the Churches in the age immediately succeeding the Apostles all after them were but of a private spirit And it is apparent that Ambition and Corruptions grew up as soon in the Government of the Church as Errors in the Doctrine thereof Suffer us therefore with your wonted Patience and Lenity which are men preingaged to no side or Faction but the free humble and meek Servants of Truth to declare our mindes concerning the First and Purest Form of the Churches Government and then as Veritas est mensura sui obliqui from that light to discover the heavy Grievances which at this day remain unremoved in our National Church 1. It is a perpetual Ordinance of Christ That there should be Pastors and Teachers in the Church for the Administration of the Word Sacraments and spiritual Discipline 2. That there should be a Society of these Pastors or Presbyters in every particular Church is an Apostolique Appointment who have also exactly prescribed what manner of men they ought to be 3. That this Company of Elders should have the Charge of the Church in which they are constituted and the power of Feeding Censuring and ordering the Flock committed to them as also of ordering Elders and Officers in the Church The work of Preaching and sacramental Administration to be done by any one of them But that of Jurisdiction and Ordination by the society as a common Act not competible to any one in particular 4. Among these and in all their Acts there ought to be Decency Order the Bond of Peace Humility Meeknesse and an ayme that the spirit of the most scandalous Offender or stubbornest Opposer may be brought to Repentance and saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 5. That the Bounds and extent of every particular Church ought to be a Town and so much of the adjacent Teritory and Villages as such a Presbytery can well by themselves watch over and take a spiritual care of 6. That the Society especially those of them which labour in the Word and Doctrine may challenge from the People whom they take spiritual care of double honour and liberal suitable Maintenance to the calling they execute 7. That every one who is consecrate to this Presbytery or Office must wait on it be instant in it and therefore reside within the confines of that Church where he hath such charge or there where he may by himself on all occasions attend on it 8. That in cases of strife and difficulty in any Church recourse must be had to the Meeting of the most able Presbyters of the Church for their determinations and every one ought to subject his Spirit to the Spirits of such Prophets yielding to the Customes of the Churches of God provided they crosse not the All-commanding evidence of Gods immutable Word either directly or by due consequence These are Rules in the Gospell either directly constituted or evidently deduced out of expresse Constitution or practice so solemn and universall that it hath in it the reason and vertue of a Constitution so that every addition which thwarteth or hindereth the due execution of these must needs be accounted a Degeneration from original Purity of Government and a corruption in sacred Polity have it never so much Antiquity or weight of humane Authority to plead for it and give countenance to it One thing more there is which on probable ground seemeth to be taken up by the practice of some Churches in the latter end of the Apostolick Age some of them yet living and that is the prostacy or Presidence of one of these Pastors Bishops or Presbyters above the rest But it cannot possibly with any colour of consequence be proved to be Authoritative being only for Order and Unity that all their common Acts should have a beginning from One as if many Deacons should appoint an Arch-Deacon or many Bishops an Arch-Bishop in common Acts to be the Mouth and Hand of the Society And this preeminence of One if the utmost of dark probability be granted appeareth to be but the meer practice of some particular Churches so that it cannot have the universal binding force of a Law from that ground much lesse of an Apostolick Constitution or Divine Right Now are we descended from the First Age and so what ever followes can be but of humane and alterable Constitution Very soon these Presidents of the Presbyters either assumed or by their Compresbyters had conferred on them authority and jurisdiction and by way of propriety the name of Bishop so that where before it was the Presbytery now it was the Bishop and his Presbyters But obsevre 1. That his Diocesse Parish or Church was no larger then He and his Presbyters could well Oversee and govern 2. That this Bishop had the Burthen as well as the Dignity and Chiefty passed over to him for He was the ordinary Preacher of that Church the Presbyters for the most part assisting in matter of Discipline and Sacramental Administration 3. That He did nothing of weight by himself but with the concurring Authority and Consent of His Presbytery Beyond this we will not proceed For these Bishops now gotten above their Brethren and making up the main body of the Councels in which all Decrees were enacted knew how to make the distance 'twixt themselvs and their once Compresbyters greater and greater by lifting up themselves and depressing those who now of Associates were become Servants and Vassals to Episcopal principality But whatever came to passe in after Ages it was but by the hand of Man established and the like hand may abolish it reduced all must be to the former Scripture and Apostolick Rules If Accessories deviate from them they are Apostacies which must be reduced if there be a through Reformation How can their maintenance be justified in a Church which hath professed to make the Scriptures her Rule and to reject all which is exalted against its Divine and absolute Soveraignty Proofs we have not annexed to the former asserted Truths to avoid over-bold prolixity in a Supplication of this nature as also because the most of them are obvious to every Mans Collection which is exercised in Gods Book But if any of them shall be opposed being called to it by Authority and having the Freedome of indifferent not preingaged Judges we will by Gods Grace with all meeknesse make good what is here asserted against all contradiction of Gainsayers Now will we proceed to an Enumeration of those Obliquities and Corruptions in our Church Government which call to your Supream Power to be rectified And we protest before the All-knowing God that We do it not out

Trent where Parties are Judges the Sentence is passed before the cause is heard We have done Would to God we could make the Churches maladies and our Grievances fewer So far are we from making them odious by raising them to a multitude These Six we conceive to be the Capital and Seminary evills Others of inferiour allay we omit because they mostly flow from these and the Principall being removed the Accessaries will also fall Oh that there were a way to cure Ulcers and not first to unrip them and lay them open We protest before the Searcher of all hearts that nothing but our Zeal to the Truth and our Mothers wellfare could have moved us out of a Resolution of silence and brought us to stand up thus as Plaintiffes Far be it from any charitably minded Christian whose eye shall be cast on these papers to passe on us any hard censure of Heresie Schisme or Factious inclination We call not all Episcopacie Anti-christian nor condemn their Superiority as simply unlawfull as did that old Aërius Though we must needs say what every Godly Antiquary cannot but see that it was a fair occasion for that Mystery of iniquity to work on a fitly raised ground on which to builde that fabrick of Confusion the Papacy That man of sin soon learned to exalt himself above Bishops from their elevation above their once fellow Presbyters How justly were they made Vassals to the Pope who had first made the Presbyters of the Churches theirs Neither do we erigere Altare contra Altare dissolve the Churches Unity and leave her Communion for these Corruptions When we call for a Cure we affirme that there is life and hope of Recovery It is an Argument that our charity remains and therefore we cannot be charged as Novations and Separatists A turbulent dissemper'd Zeal cannot be imputed to them whose ayme is Peace whose dear esteem of Unity is such that they could redeem it with their blood And who all this time have born these burthens now complained of with a silent patience and had still continued under an humble submission and yielding conformity if that would have given content as till these times it had done But when things grew to that extremity that we must not only bear but allow and swear Vassallage to that which we cannot but call Corruptions and deflections in Government from Apostolique Purity It was high time to complain and to cry out for a removall of Evills which we must approve or not be Politicall Defects and Distempers can have no Redresse but from that Power which is Supream Unto that therefore with all prostrate Humility we present our earnest Request that these Evils being discovered may be removed We are poor Men of low condition whose measure is not to rule but to submit We prescribe not Formes of Government We disclaim not Episcopacy Government must be or ruine will be in all Societies If we must obey as good a Bishop with a Presbytery as a Presbytery without a Bishop All we sue for is That Christ may Rule without impeachment in his own House That those Generall forealledged Constitutions which he and his Apostles settled in the Churches of their first gathering may be observed inviolable Humane Ordinances should further not make void or hinder Divine Let your Authority retain in Government or establish what it seemeth convenient so it concord with or at least do not enervate those sacred Rules Whatever is against them or so besides them that it any whit stands in their way must be removed or we shall never see true peace that Peace which kisseth Righteousnesse which is the firme Band of Spirituall unity Restlesse pains and inordinate Action must needs be the consequent of Luxations when the members are out of their due places some higher set some lower then they should be Innovation it must needs be termed and defection be the Authors never so many Ancient or Holy where their Additionalls swerve from and oppose the use and intention of Original Constitutions A Redressement of this is the substance of our Lowly Petition we presume not to define the manner how but we beseech that it may be and fully so that matter be not left for a third Convulsion and solidly that Corruptions spring not again out of any remaining Principles So shall the Souls of all those who love the Lord JESVS in sincerity and prefer his Truth beyond Self-Respects both in present and future Ages renown your Names as of those who have done worthily However we have discharged our Duty and let the LORD finde means and time to root out whatever he hath not planted FINIS

of envy of any mans Greatnesse or Ambitious Affectation to be medling in State Affairs things too high for us but from the powerfull command of Conscience from unfained love to the Gospel of Christ whose Efficacy is much impeached by the following Corruptions and from filiall Commiseration of our wounded and torn Mother Whose Breaches we verily apprehend cannot be made up but by reducing of her Discipline to a pure Concordance with those Original Divine Prescriptions We complain then 1. That the Power of Jurisdiction and Ordination is claimed and exercised by Bishops as their sole Right in a distinction from Presbyters This we affirm to be an Exorbitance from the second of those right original and Apostolick Ordinances for Church Government And as it is a departure from the Rule so it is a main corruption of evil consequence in the Church For it is First an Usurpation and undue appropriation of a Legacy which Christ bestowed in Common to reside in the Consessus or whole Presbytery and to be exercised by their common suffrage It not being in the Presbyters power to strip themselves and cast on man that which was bestowed and by the Donor intended to the whole Community of their Society Secondly a severing of the Word and the Keyes which cannot without detriment to either be sundred To Feed and Rule are the two parts of Pastorship where both are there is a Pastor So that with us while it is Ones work to govern which seldome Feedeth and the work of the rest to Feed which must not meddle with Government there is no full Pastor But the Office is destroyed by being divided and the Word in the mouths of a disarmed Presbytery is weak edglesse and contemptible Thirdly The ordaining of a Number of Presbyters at large whereby the Church is filled with needy Ministers loose from any settled employment fit at low rates to be hired by fat Pluralists Non-Residents and Lazie Voluptuaries which else would be to seek of Mercenary supplies or be driven in a penury to give higher Wages But hereby the Sacred Office is exposed to Contempt and the Ordination to the Office and Institution into a Charge are made several Acts A Divorce unheard of in that Primitive Policy Which grosse Abuse could no be if Ordination were the common on Act of the whole Presbyterie of a Church Fourthly intromission to the Oversight of Congregations of Men Simoniacall scandalous and unapt to teach which can easily steal into Office by the connivence or corruption of One but if the Power were in a Multitude it could not soon be effected 2. The excessive Provincial extent of Diocesan Churches is an evident departure not only from the fift of those pure original Constitutions but also from the manner of after Ages till Bishops in their Synods provided better for their own Greatnesse then the Churches wellfare Then they degraded the Chorepiscopi and made Orders that Bishops should be placed only in the greater and more frequented Cities This is as a departure from the first pure manner so much for the worse for hence arise these Grievances Neglect of Reformation both in disordered Ministers and people Remotenesse of the Bishops Seat Expences of Travailing Difficulty of proving and tedious Expectation of the Issue of Suits where crimes must be tryed before Judges who are meer strangers to the Persons and causes coming before them deterre almost all men from so troublesome an undertaking And thus the Churches are pester'd with infamous Offenders which could not be if the bounds of a Church were so appointed that all its members might be under the eye of the Governours 2. Deputation of Authority and Jurisdiction to others a most grosse degeneration from that Primitive Discipline which never heard of such a thing as the deputing of any part of Pastoral Office which is committed to Men for their Personal Abilities and cannot without abuse be committed to those who are oft Lay men and neither of Pastoral parts or Calling Hence that numerous frie and subordination of Officers with the multitude of Fees which must needs be where the Churches are whole Countries so large that it is impossible that one Pastor should dispatch all by himself 3. The Non-residence of men having Pastoral Charge is a grosse violation of the seventh of those Apostolick constitutions and is an unexcusable corruption unfit to be tolerated in any well governed Church 4. A Plurality of Pastoral Charges undertaken by one Man is also a gross Exorbitancy brought in with the former after Church Government was at the worst Two Evills which are the shame of our Church not fit to be named in a Reformed Church brought in and continued meerly to nourish Ambition Pompe Voluptuousnesse and Avarice in Clergie-men These two usually go together this last necessitating the former and are seminary Evils First inducing a necessity of deputing Pastoral Charge which every one before God undertakes to performe in his own Person Secondly Church Robbery by transporting the sacred Allowance paid and intended for the maintennace of a vigilant painfull Pastor over the soules of the People which afford it to another Place and Person which hath only the Title and Charge but doth not the work of a Pastor 3. Thirdly Impiety in placing a Mercenary unable for the Charge or Injustice if He substitute one able and fully discharging the Office allowing him the least part of that maintenance which was originally intended and in no other Plea can be challenged of the People for performing the Office 5. Imposing and rigorous urging on great undoing extirpating Penalties ceremonies Tasks and Oaths meerly ad placitum and for their own ends contrary to the Fourth of those prime Scripture Canons whereby Christian liberty in Indifferents is much impaired Many worthy Men of great abilities pains and successe of Ministry in their Charges but of tender and strict consciences have been thrust out Schisms and Dissentions in the bowels of the Church for the space now of more then fourscore years nourished to the prejudice of our Ecclesiastical Peace which we apprehend can never be fully attained till Liberty of conscience in Indifferencies and points of small consequence but great controversie be granted If Severity of censures and force could have brought forth Unity it had in this time been effected This Remedy hath been long applied and yet sad Experience now tells us that the Disease hath grown worse and worse 6. The carriage and constitution of our Convocations or if they may be so called our National Synods is such that it is impossible to proceed to a Reformation in any of these Ecclesiastical distortions by that way What are they for the main but Meetings of the one Party consisting of Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons and other Dependers on Episcopacy and preingaged Persons So that there is as little hope for us of Reformation in points of Government from them as was for the Protestants side of a fair decision of their controversies in the Councel of