Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	church_n	reason_n	scripture_n	9,222	5	6.2628	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50861	Remarks upon the occasional paper, number VIII in a letter to the author.	Milles, Thomas, 1671-1740.	1697 (1697)	Wing M2068; ESTC R31895	7,801	12

REMARKS UPON THE Occasional Paper NUMBER VIII In a Letter to the AUTHOR SIR I Was very much surpriz'd to find you charge the Author of the Vindication of the depriv'd Bishops so severely as you do pag. 3 and 4. of your late Occasional Paper he having given you no occasion that I or any unprejudic'd Person can see for those unkind Reflections Your Paper pretends to shew the Necessity of Christian Discipline and therefore I cannot but wonder you should seem so desirous to pick a Quarrel with one who has always been and is still ready upon all occasions to second your Design What he has said and writ in Defence of the Rights of the Clergy might one would have thought have secured him from the Pen of a Clergyman and though he should be found to have been somewhat mistaken in so generously asserting the Rights of the Church yet the Honesty and Sincerity of his Intentions ought to have induced you to have drawn a Veil over appendant Miscarriages The Temper of the Laity in this Age and Nation is such that few of them appear very forward to defend even the just Privileges of the Clergy and therefore when a Layman will write in their behalf they ought to be so true to their own Interests as at least to stand Neuters the mean while But it seems 't is fear'd That the Rights of the Church are carried to such a height as to give just ground of Suspicion and Jealousy to the Magistrate This ought to have been proved as well as asserted But I cannot see how that Power which this Author asserts to the Church can give any the least Cause of Jealousy to the Magistrate since 't is a purely Spiritual Power and such as is wholly independent of and has no manner of relation to and therefore cannot interfere with that of the State Nor can it endanger the Safety of any Government Because those who have it are not enabled by it to meddle or concern themselves at all in Temporal Matters but only to Feed Direct and Govern that Flock of which the Church hath made them Overseers Nay they own or ought to do so That in all Lawful things they are to pay an Active Obedience to the Civil Magistrate and where they cannot do this without violating their Consciences that there they must patiently submit even to his most unjust Punishments and utterly disown all manner of Resistance purely upon the account of Religion Men surely that own and maintain such Principles as these are not very likely to raise Commotions in a State or disturb the Government of the Civil Magistrate I don 't at all doubt but that the Government had good Reasons to seize and suppress the Pamphlet you mention There were possibly some things in it which the Person by whose Order it was suppress'd did not think convenient should be expos'd to Publick View But yet since there was a Promise from one engaged in the Controversy That he would secure whatever should be printed of that kind and since after it was seiz'd and before it was suppress'd there were Offers made of striking out whatever was offensive and Printing those Sheets over again it seems somewhat hard it should after all be condemn'd to the lining Trunks and Paper-Boxes You say the Title of this Author's Book is long and obscure Which is a Charge as False as 't is Impertinent To prove it False I need do no more than present you with the Title which runs thus A DEFENCE of the Vindication of the Deprived Bishops wherein The Case of Abiathar is particularly considered and the Invalidity of Lay-Deprivations is further proved from the Doctrines received under the Old Testament continued in the First Ages of Christianity and from our own Fundamental Laws Now I appeal to any Man of Sense whether this Title be e're a whit too long or at all obscure But it seems Sir you thought that the Book being suppress'd and so not likely to come abroad into the World you might say any thing of it no matter whether true or false since few or none would be able to contradict you And therefore the Author is beholden to you that you did not fall foul upon the Book it self but contented your self to Nibble at the Title-Page But Good Sir what matter is it how long or obscure the Title may be provided the Arguments thar are in it be clear and conclusive I have often known a Glorious Title prefix'd to a very indifferent Book as on the other hand an Excellent Book have but an ordinary Title this being a matter of so little moment that 't is often left to the Discretion of the Bookseller or Corrector And truly I believe no one will judge of the Goodness or Badness of a Book by its Title unless they be such as look no further than the Title Pages of Books But it is the way of some Men to endeavour to raise Prejudices against some sort of Books because forsooth the Style or Title-Page or something else as trifling which does not concern the Merits of the Cause is not to their minds I readily grant you That they do a great Injury to the Church as to its Real Rights who pretend to such as are not so But then Sir I must desire you to grant me That they do a greater Injury to it who tamely give up its Real Rights and oppose those who would defend them And as they are no Friends to the Church who draw upon it the Jealousy of those in Authority so they are Friends to neither Church nor State who give the latter such a Power over the former as cannot be warranted by Scripture Reason or the earliest Antiquity You profess your self glad That this Author is neither a Clergyman nor a Member of the Establish'd Church But I am sure all good men are sorry both for the one and the other since a Person of his great Piety and profound Learning would be a Support and Ornament to both Church and Clergy As for the Measures of the Magistrate's Power over the Church and whether it reaches so far as that he may forbid the Exercise of those Offices in his own Dominions which are inseparable from the Episcopal Character by those who will not declare themselves his Friends it is the matter in Debate and your saying That indeed it 's hard he should not have such a Power does not determine it I am sure the Primitive Christians of the first Three hundred Years after Christ in some Instances would not declare themselves Friends to the Roman Emperors in such a manner as they required and yet even in such a Case they did not think that they had a Power of hindring any particular Bishop from the exercise of his Function in his particular District If you say the Case is alter'd since the Civil Magistrates are become Christians It is answer'd That a Christian Governement has not the least Authority or Jurisdiction over the Church