Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	father_n	scripture_n	tradition_n	2,047	5	9.1715	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45154	A reply to the defence of Dr. Stillingfleet being a counter plot for union between the Protestants, in opposition to the project of others for conjunction with the Church of Rome / by the authors of the Modest and peaceable inquiry, of the Reflections, (i.e.) the Country confor., of the Peaceable designe.	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.; Lobb, Stephen, d. 1699.	1681 (1681)	Wing H3706; ESTC R8863	130,594	165

Comment on the former entituled The English Pope Printed at London in the same Year 1643 and he will tell us That after Con had undertook the managing of the Affairs matters began to grow to some Agreement The King Required saith he such a Dispensation from the then Pope as that his Catholique Subjects might resort to the Protestant Churches and to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Fidelity and that the Pope's Jurisdiction here should be declared to be but of Humane Right And so far had the Pope consented that whatever did concern the King therein should have been really performed so far as other Catholick Princes usually enjoy and expect as their due And so far as the Bishops were to be Independent both from King and Pope there was no fear of breach on the Pope's part So that upon the point the Pope was to content himself amongst us in England with a Priority instead of a Superiority over other Bishops and with a Primacy instead of a Supremacy in these Parts of Christendom which I conceive no man of Learning and Sobriety would have grudged to grant him It was also condescended to in the name of the Pope that Marriage might be permitted to Priests that the Communion might be administred sub utraque specie and that the Liturgy might be officiated in the English Tongue And though the Author adds not long after that it was to be suspected That so far as the Inferiour Clergy and the People were concerned the after performance was to be left to the Popes discretion yet this was but his own Suspicion without ground at all And to obtain a Reconciliation upon these advantages the Archbishop had all the reason in the world to do as he did in ordering the Lords-Table to be placed where the Altar stood and making the accustomed Reverence in all approaches towards it and accesses to it In beautifying and adorning Churches and celebrating the Divine Service with all due Selemnities in taking care that all offensive and exasperating passages should be expunged out of such Books as were brought to the Press and for reducing the extravagancy of some Opinions to an evener temper His Majesty had the like Reason also for Tolerating lawful Recreations on Sundays and Holydays But the Doctor goes on If you would know how far they had proceeded towards this happy Reconciliation the Popes Nuncio will assure us thus That the Universities Bishops and Divines of this Realm did daily embrace Catholick Opinions though they professed not so much with Pen or Mouth for fear of the Puritans For example They hold that the Church of Rome is a true Church That the Pope is Superiour to all Bishops That to him it appertains to call General Councils That 't is lawful to pray for the Souls of the departed That Altars ought to be erected of Stone In sum That they believe all that is taught by the Church but not by the Court of Rome Another of their Authors tells us as was elsewhere noted That those amongst us of greatest Worth Learning and Authority began to love Temper and Moderation That their Doctrines began to be altered in many things for which their Progenitors forsook the Visible Church of Christ As for example The Pope not Antichrist Prayers for the Dead Limbus Patrum Pictures That the Church hath Authority in determining Controversies of Faith and to interpret Scriptures about Free-will Predestination Universal Grace That all our Works are not Sins Merit of good Works Inherent Justice Faith alone doth justifie Charity to be preferr'd before Knowledg the Authority of Traditions Commandments possible to be kept That in Exposition of the Scripture they are by Canon bound to follow the Fathers And that the once fearful names of Priests and Altars are used willingly in their Talk and Writings In which compliances so far forth as they speak the Truth saies Heylin for in some points through the Ignorance of the One and the Malice of the Other they are much mistaken there is scarce any thing which may not very well consist with the established though for a time discontinued Doctrine of the Church of England The Articles whereof as the same Jesuit hath observed seem patient or ambitious rather of some sense wherein they may seem Catholick And such a sense is put upon them by him that calls himself Franciscus â Sancta Clara as before was said So far Heylir Thus to carry on this Recenciling Design all the care imaginable must be taken to humour the Papist not only by prosecuting the Puritan with the greatest severity but the Pope must not any longer be stigmatized with the name of Antichrist all exasperating passages in any Book brought to the Press must be expung'd not one word of the Gunpowder-Treason for said Baker the Bishop of London's chaplain We are not now so angry with the Papists as we were twenty years ago and that there was no need to exasperate them and therefore the Book concerning the Gunpowder-Treason must by no means be reprinted the Divine Service must be in some respects altered that whereas the Reformers in Queen Elizabeth's time had a greater kindness for the Pope than those in H. 8. and Ed. 6. manifested by expunging a clause against the Pope viz. From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities Good Lord deliver us Even so in imitation Archbishop Land changes some phrases in the Book of Prayers for the fifth of November So far a Church of England Dr. To which I might add several other instances but I wish there had not been the woful occasion of insisting on so much By this time the Reader may see cause to suspect at least the Deans Substitute who in the Defence of the Dr. gives us the scheme of the old Grotian model so much esteemed by the Archbishop Laud who in his walking towards Rome kept most exactly thereunto But notwithstanding this caution must be had that we reproach not all the Church of England as if they had been such as this Author for I do verily believe there are very few this day in England among the Conforming Clergy who will approve of this mans notion but probably may judg themselves as much concerned to oppose it as any among the Dissenters I 'm sure Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury and Usher Primate of Ireland were persons of quite another principle and temper And not only Abbot and Usher but if we may judg of a Queen Elizabeth Protestant by the Writings of the famous Hooker and Dr. Field we may be sure that this man to say nothing of the Dean hath notwithstanding the great talk of the glory of the first Reformation forsaken the notion the old church of England had of the church and of such as are judged Schismatical falling in with the French Papacy about Church-Government as I will evince in the next Section SECT II. The Deans Substitutes agreement with the Papists about Schism even when he differs from the

that one Bishop should have so many Cities underneath him Unto whom I answered That I could no farther go than to St. Paul's text which set in every City a Bishop Then asked he me If I thought it now unright seeing the Ordinance of the Church that one Bishop should have so many Cities I answered That I knew none Ordinance of the Church as concerning this thing but St. Paul's saying only Nevertheless I did see a contrary custom and practise in the world but I know not the Original thereof Then said he That in the Apostles time there were divers Cities some seven miles some six miles long and over them was there set but one Bishop and of their Suburbs also so likewise now a Bishop hath also but One City to his Cathedral Church and the Countrey about it as Suburbs unto it Methought this was far-fetcht but I durst not deny it because it was so great Authority and of so holy a Father and of so great a Divine But this I dare say that his Holiness could never prove it by Scripture nor yet by any Authority of Doctors nor yet by any practise of the Apostles and yet it must be true because a Pillar of the Church hath spoken it But let us see what the Doctors say to mine Article Athanasius doth declare this Text of the Apostle I have left thee behind c. He would not commit unto one Bishop a whole Ylde but he did injoyn that every City should have his proper Pastor supposing that by this means they should more diligently oversee the people and also that the labour should be more easie to bear c. Also Chrysostome on that same Text He would not that a whole Countrey should be permitted unto one man but he enjoined to every man his Cure by that means he knew that his labour should be more easie and the subjects should be with more diligence govern'd if the Teachers were not distract with the governing of many Churches but had cure and charge of one Church only c. Methinks these be plain words and able to move a man to speak as much as I did But grant that you may have all these Cities yet can you make it none Heresie For my Lord Cardinal granted that it was but against him and against you which be no Gods But I poor man must be an Heretick there is no remedy You will have it so and who is able to say nay Not all Scripture nor yet God himself By this time the Reader cannot but be well satisfied that the great thing aim'd at by the first great Lights England had in Henry the 8ths days as a most effectual way to carry on a Reformation was the reducing the Popish Hierarchy to an Apostolical Presbytery The Presbyterian Discipline that is The Government of Gospel-Churches by Presbyters and Deacons being of Divine Institution is most admirably suited to the designed End of promoting the Glory of God the Power of Religion c. A Discipline the truth of which hath been sealed by the blood of blessed Protestant Martyrs a thing in which our Episcoparians cannot make the●r boast Moreover 't is manifest that this was not only the apprehension of Tindall Barnes and Lambert but that all the Clergy in Henry the 8ths time denied a Diocesan Episcopacy to be of Divine Institution asserting that in the New Testament there is no mention made but of Deacons or Ministers and Priests or Bishops This is in a Paper sign'd by Cromwell and many others Yea and in the necessary Erudition of a Christian man as is acknowledged by the Judicious Dr. Burnet who in his Addenda to the first part of the Reformation doth say That both in this Writing and in the necessary Erudition of a Christian man Bishops and Priests are spoken of as one and the same Office Though I must confess that the Dr. doth differ from those Divines and although he gives us not satisfaction in his Reply yet he speaks more ingenuously and more to the purpose than either this Gentleman or Dr. Stillingfleet himself 4. The old Nonconformists in Queen Elizabeths days agreeing with those worthy Martyrs Tyndall Lambert and Barnes concerning the most effectual way of carrying on the Reformation applied themselves seriously to the Work The Viciousness of some of the Clergy in Queen Elizabeths days was as grievous unto the Nonconformist as unto those glorious Martyrs a Reformation in Manners and in order thereunto in Church-Discipline was what they aim'd at 'T is very evident That a further Reformation than was carried on by Queen Elezabeth was very desirable for in some respects she carried it not so far as King Edward himself had done ' For Queen Elizabeth as Dr. Burnet most admirably expresseth it though she had been bred up from her Infancy with a Hatred to the Papacy and a Love to the Reformation yet as her first Impressions in her Fathers Reign were in favour of such old Rites as he had still retained so in her nature she loved State and some Magnificence in Religion as well as in every thing else She thought that in her Brothers Reign they had stript it too much of external Ornaments and had made their Doctrine too narrow in some Points Therefore she intended to have some things explain'd in more general Terms that so all Parties might be comprehended by them She inclin'd to keep up Images in Churches and to have the manner of Christ's Presence in the Sacrament left in some general words that those who believe a Corporal Presence might not be driven away from the Church by too nice an explanation of it History of Reform part 2. l. 3. As to this last Particular the Rubrick that explain'd the Reason for the kneeling at the Sacrament That thereby no Adoration is intended to any corporal presence of Christs flesh and blood because that is only in Heaven which had been in King Edwards Liturgy is left out and kneeling at the Sacrament to many a Protestant much more offensive than formerly The great Propension in Queen Elizabeth's days to gain over the Popish party to her Communion by those Alterations made in the Liturgy in favour of the Papist the ordering the Sacramental Bread to be made round in the fashion of the Wafers used in the time of Queen Mary the requiring the Table to be placed where the Altar stood c. was attended with the Conformity of many who were cordially affected to the Interest of the Church of Rome at which time there was not a sufficient number of learned men to supply the Cures which filled the Church as Heylin saith with an Ignorant and Illiterate Clergy whose learning went no further than the Liturgy or Book of Homilies though otherwise conformable unto the Rules of the Church The Old Nonconformists still desiring a further Reformation than was carried on in King Edwards days but ●●●●ing rather a turning toward Rome could not but be greatly grieved They in their places