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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	bishop_n	church_n	see_v	3,056	5	3.9474	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49609	A letter from a minister in the country, to a member of the convocation	N. L., Minister in the country.	1689 (1689)	Wing L46; ESTC R1292	16,508	32

are herein concerned Now there are three methods may be taken either That observed by Archbishop Bramhall or a Form hypothetically drawn up or that of the Bill of Union I cannot think that of the Primate has escap'd you but yet because I have the Book before me I shall transcribe it His Life prefixed to his Works Non annihilantes priores ordines si quos habuit nec validitatem aut invaliditatem eorundem determinantes multo minus Ordines Sacros Ecclesiarum Forinsecarum condemnantes quos proprio Judici relinquimus Sed solummodo supplentes quicquid prius defuit per Canones Ecclesiae Anglicanae requisitum providentes paci Ecclesiae ut Schismatis tollatur occasio Et Conscientiis Fidelium satisfiat nec ullo modo dubitent de ejus Ordinatione aut actus suos Presbyteriales tanquam invalidos aversentur In cujus rei testimonium c. We may here observe how cautiously this great Man proceeded betwixt ratifying and annulling their Orders that he might not give or take away too much And withal how far he thought it necessary to go for the peace of the Church and the taking away the occasion of Schism The other method is hypothetical after the same way that 's used in Baptizing such of whose Baptism we have no proof viz. If thou art not already Ordained I Ordain thee c. The only Objection I can foresee at present against this is that the other is matter of Fact that is in question but here it 's matter of Right But to that I answer that is not to the point for both Cases are hypothetically put and so the Right is no more determined by the one than the Fact is by the other And if thou art not already Baptized c. doth not declare any thing about the Fact then If thou art not already Ordained c. doth not declare any thing about matter of Right but both are left in suspence and so If thou art not already c. is no more than the Bishop's nec validitatem aut invaliditatem determinantes The 3d is that of the Bill of Vnion as I have heard which is that the person to be qualified shall be by imposition of the Bishops hands receiv'd with a certain form of words to signifie his admission into the Church of England as a Minister therein 5. Declarations and Subscriptions The former respects the service-Service-Book the latter the Articles As all publick Forms should be so compos'd as to take in as many into its Communion See King Charles I. Declaration for the Ratification of the Articles as is consistent with the Constitution and self-preservation So ought all Declarations and Subscriptions to answer the same end and to be drawn up in such words as may be for the peace and establishment of the Church the ease of those that are to Officiate in it and the preservation of a good understanding among them And I perswade my self it would have been more for the good of the Church if what is now generally understood by the Declaration and Subscription were more plainly exprest viz. that the former is to the Vse and the latter to the Articles as Articles of Peace and Concord This is the sense of Archbishop Laud Against Fisher p. 51. n. 2. if I understand him but without doubt is that of Archbishop Bramhall and Mr. Chillingworth Schism Guarded § 1. c. 11 c. and it is not to be doubted but that to make the whole the more easie it is fit either that the Articles should be brought to the Subscription or the Subscription to the Articles Answer to Charity Maintained For those great men at the same time as they held that the constant Doctrine of the Church of England is so pure and Orthodox that there is no Error in it which may necessitate or warrant any man to disturb the Peace or renounce the Communion they do intimate by the qualified sense they give of them as Articles of Peace and the Negative sense they allow a Subscription in so as not to contradict them that there may be some Doctrines held by the Church which good and honest men may have some scruple about or not be satisfied in And it may be supposed again that a good and honest man may question whether such a Subscription be the Subscription which the Church did intend or is satisfied with and therefore though he could subscribe in their sense may think it unlawful to subscribe To apply this to the case of the present Conformity suppose we not a Dissenter but a young Student qualified by a competent stock of Humane Learning and knowledge in Divinity thinks of entring into Holy Orders and as a prudent and good Man first of all considers what he is to do The first thing he meets with is that he must declare his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book of Common-Prayer and amongst which he finds the Apocrypha is to be read Now upon reading perhaps Dr. Reynolds or Bishop Cosius c. upon that Argument as he is convinced of what our Church holds that those Books are not of Divine Authority so also for that reason that some of them contain things which our Writers prove to be manifestly false Upon this he Queries whether he may lawfully read That in the Church as a Lesson for the People's Instruction which he is convinced is false From thence he proceeds to the Psalms and as he knows there are two Translations in use so he thinks himself bound to compare them and upon Comparison finds these in some things inconsistent and one time the one to deny what the other affirms Now since but one of these can be true he questions whether when he is to use both he may make the Text contradict it self and in the Desk read with the Old They were not obedient unto his word in the Pulpit or with the Hebrew and the New read They rebelled not against his word Psal 105.28 He proceeds further and comes to the Creeds and because that of Athanasius is the larger and so may be presumed should be the plainer he begins to examine the Articles of it and though he is abundantly satisfied in the Doctrine of the Sacred Trinity and the Deity of the Son and Holy Ghost yet he finds a great Dispute betwixt the Greek and Latin Church about the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son. Now the first Question is whether of these two Churches is in the right And secondly whether this be a Fundamental Article of the Faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved And the third Question is whether he may declare the Greek Church in a state of Damnation for what is questionable whether it be a Fundamental Article or not And that it is questionable he finds for this is not made necessary by Athanasius himself Athana Epist

A LETTER FROM A Minister in the Country To a MEMBER OF THE CONVOCATION A LETTER FROM A Minister in the Country To a MEMBER OF THE CONVOCATION Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Black Bull in the Old-Bailey 1689. A LETTER FROM A Minister in the Country to a Member of the Convocation SIR I Look'd upon it as a good Omen when the first Proctor that I heard of chosen to serve in the Convocation was you of whose Prudence Temper and Judgment I have had long Experience The sense of which so far transported me that had you not invited it I should hardly have forborn to give you my thoughts about the Matters which I hear are likely to be offered to your Consideration in that Venerable Assembly Matters certainly of great Importance to our Church a Church which I am certain of in respect of its Doctrine Worship and Order is inferiour to none upon the face of the Earth And therefore what we ought with all imaginable care at all times to preserve but in this present Juncture more especially to respect For if what Report and some Letters and the Queries suggest be true we have reason to fear there is a Cloud hanging over us in the Commission lately set up that portends no less than Ruin to our Constitution by taking away the two main Supports of it our Liturgy and Episcopacy A matter if true you cannot be too intent upon nor too resolute to oppose and if such things be complied with by you and those of your station you must be false to the Trust reposed in you and to the Church of which you are Members Ministers and at this present Representatives But I must confess to you I begin to think that we have been impos'd upon by the Artifice of some and the Credulity of others for having met with a Book called A Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission and convers'd of late with several discerning and impartial Persons that have penetrated into this matter further than some of us I find that there is little else intended than what you and I and several of our Acquaintance have thought would be rather for the Advantage Security and Honour of our Church than to the Prejudice and Detriment of it And if the refreshing of these things and laying them in some Order before you will be of any use to you as you pretend I shall as the time will permit do my best to answer your desires and in discoursing upon which 1. I shall shew that there are such things in our Church as are in their nature alterable and what they are 2. That there are such things in our Church which may be altered and the Church not the worse for such alterations 3. There are such things as may be altered and the Church be the better for such alterations 4. That this is a proper season for such alterations 1. That there are such things in the Church as are in their nature alterable and may upon just Occasion be altered has been the constant Opinion of our Church And which for the Authority of it and the Excellency of its Reasoning I shall choose to set down in its own words Preface to the Service-Book It has been the wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first compiling of her Publick Liturgy to keep the Mean between the two Extreams of too much stiffness in refusing and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it For as on the one side common Experience sheweth that where a change has been made of things advisedly established no evident Necessity so requiring sundry inconveniencies have thereupon ensued and those many times more and greater than the evils that were intended to be remedied by such change So on the other side particular Forms of Divine Worship and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein being things in their own nature Indifferent and Alterable and so acknowledged it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various exigency of Times and Occasions such changes and alterations should be made therein as to those that are in place of Authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient So the Homily of Fasting Part 1. Article 34 c. So that setting aside what in this case is to be supposed not concerned in the present Debate the Essentials belonging to our Religion and our Church without the former of which it would not be a true or compleat Church and without the latter it would not be our Church there is nothing but what as it's alterable so may in such Circumstances be altered 2. There are such things in our Church as may be altered and the Church not be the worse for such alterations Which Rule supposes the Alterations such as are consistent with the Being and Security of our Church With the Being whereby are excluded all such as will not allow a National Church Episcopacy and a Liturgy With the Security and so are excluded such alterations as will do more mischief by dividing us among our selves than good by uniting others to us And such alterations I conceive would be the new modelling of the Liturgy and the forbidding wholly the use of the established Rites and Ceremonies If the matters proposed for Alteration be of the former sort there can be no Accommodation if of the latter the time and season are to be respected as well as the things themselves which will also be debated in the close Setting aside the Objections against the Essentials of our Church as not to our present purpose the rest may be comprehended in this order The Kalendar The Service The Rites Reordination Subscription and Declaration Government and Discipline 1. The Kalendar And herein the first thing that is to be considered is the Apocrypha the Books of which being only of Humane Composure have not only been all along objected against by Dissenters but also wished by many amongst our selves might be exchanged for Lessons out of the Canonical Scripture as by the Bishops and other Episcopal Divines assembled to consider of these matters in 1641. It 's acknowledged that some of these Books contain matter of excellent use and have been anciently read in the Christian Church But the first of these is no Reason for those Books which contain things neither profitable nor true nor can it be of any force when there are Chapters of Canonical Scripture that may with great profit be read and are omitted for their sake 1. If any of them were anciently read So were Hermes Pastor and Clemens Romanus And if that is a reason why the one it 's a reason why what we have of the other should be read also 2 If they were read then we know what mischief ensued from it when there were some of the Ancients thought too favourable of some of them And the Church of Rome has of