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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	church_n	epistle_n	write_v	2,534	5	6.0376	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42270	A short defence of the church and clergy of England wherein some of the common objections against both are answered, and the means of union briefly considered.	Grove, Robert, 1634-1696.	1681 (1681)	Wing G2160; ESTC R21438	56,753	96

whereof Antioch was the chief City and therefore he cannot be denyed to have had many Presbyters under him and it may be several Diocesan Bishops which very probably were then established in so large a Country as that was The last example that I shall bring is that of Polycarpus of Smyrna He was one that had conversed with St John and other Apostles and as some say was made Bishop of Smyrna by St John whose scholar he was But Irenaeus who knew him and had heard him with great attention when he discoursed of many things that he had heard from St Johns own mouth and from others that had seen the Lord he tells us that he was made Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles and if so then this Polycarpus must be that Angel of the Church of Smyrna to whom St John writes one of his Epistles in the Revelation for that Book of holy Scripture was not written till after the death of the other Apostles And if he were made Bishop by them for which we have the undoubted testimony of one that knew him then he must be confessed to have been the Angel of that Church whom St John does so highly commend And that he had Authority over many Presbyters cannot be questioned because he collected the forementioned Epistles of Ignatius and amongst the rest that to his own Church of Smyrna and sent them to the Philippians in all which this power is most fully and evidently asserted I have made choice of these few Examples out of many more because they seem to me to be very clear and were all of them unquestionably within the times that the Apostles lived and therefore it may appear from hence that the Episcopal Government in the Church was a Constitution that was allowed and established by them But if this could not be proved yet it must be confessed that soon after it was universally received all over the Christian World for from about the middle of the second Century and so downwards there is not an instance of any Church that had not a Bishop under whose Government it was The Churches in the Roman Empire and those without it did most unanimously agree in this that they all owned the Episcopal superiority And this is a very strong argument that it was a matter of Apostolical institution For it is not otherwise conceiveable how it could be brought into such general use throughout the whole Catholick Church in so short a time If any should think that it might be determined in a General Council soon after the decease of the Apostles this were a good testimony that it were still Apostolical For else it would never have been decreed by those some of which in all probability must have seen and conversed with some of the Apostles and who were wont constantly to contend for such things as they had heard from them and to reject all other as illegal innovations But that there was never any such Council seems to be beyond dispute For it could not be assembled in a time when the Church was often in a state of persecution and always looked upon with a jealous eye by the Civil power which would not have suffered so great a number of Christian Ministers to meet together without giving them some great disturbance Or if we should suppose they might have been permitted to meet quietly yet that they did so there is not the least mention or intimation in any Ecclesiastical Writer and it cannot be conceived that they could have been silent in a matter so considerable as this when they have punctually recorded so many of far less importance But if any can be inclined to believe that the Episcopal superiority was a meer usurpation of one Presbyter in a Diocess over the rest without the decree of any Council it is exceeding strange that all the World should be imposed upon about the same time in the same manner without ever consulting one with another And who can imagine that the primitive Bishops who are acknowledged to have been such pious mortified and self-denying men could be guilty of an ambition to advance themselves above their brethren contrary to the rule of the Apostles especially when they were like to get nothing by their aspiring but to be the first that should burn at a stake in the market-place or be torn in pieces in the Amphitheater Or if we could suppose them to have been so wicked and foolish too it is not possible that they could have gained this new power without some considerable opposition Men are naturally very jealous of any incroachment that can be made upon their Rights And the Presbyters of those times may well be thought to have had as great a care of preserving their Liberty as we have now of ours It is not therefore at all credible that they should as it were with one consent put their necks quietly under this new invented Yoke and submit without struggling to the usurped power of one of their Equals and that this defection should be so universal that the antient Parity if there had been any such should not keep its possession in one Church in all Christendom And from hence it seems very plain that the Episcopal Government that was exercised by the Apostles and by others in their time and received in all Churches must be instituted by them and they certainly did not act in a Case of that high concernment to the perpetual peace and order of the Church without the particular command of our blessed Lord or the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost I have drawn together in as clear and plain a method as I could the substance of the Argument that may be made for the Power of the Bishop over many Presbyters And if to all this and whatever else may be alledged it should be thought reply enough to say that the Mystery of iniquity began to work in the Apostles days and that therefore we are not to be obliged by any Examples though never so old If this should be pleaded as I think it has been sometimes it may be answered thus That Episcopacy may be proved upon good grounds out of the Scripture it self I am sure far better than any other form of Government can pretend unto But then being explained by the practice of that and all following Ages it will put the thing beyond all controversy if the sacred Text alone should not be clear enough to convince us of it But if the Mystery of Iniquity should be still insisted on this can be no prejudice to our Cause unless it can be proved that such an Episcopacy as we plead for is that Mystery of Iniquity which is spoken of That it is not seems to me very evident Because I cannot think that the Mystery of Iniquity though it did work very early should so mightily prevail that in a very short time there should not be any Church any where that can be heard of that

was not Governed by the Mystery of Iniquity if Episcopacy be supposed to be so Clement Ignatius Polycarp and other holy men and Martyrs that had seen and conversed with some of the Apostles were all Bishops and it would be hard and uncharitable to think that such as they did not only not oppose but that they were great managers and promoters of the Mystery of Iniquity Nay I do not see if it should be thus how Timothy and Titus can be wholly excused for that they had an Episcopal power will be readily confessed and therefore they must be real Bishops and though the Apostle bid Timothy do the work of an Evangelist that was a thing very consistent with the Episcopal Office with which they were invested as it is confirmed to us by the Antients who had better opportunities than we of knowing the truth and who do account them the first Bishops of their respective Sees the one of Ephesus the other of Crete So that if we will not involve these and the other most holy men in one common guilt Episcopacy cannot be that Mystery of Iniquity that began to work so very soon It will be granted that the extent of the several Bishopricks might be various in some places of a wider and in some of a narrower compass and the number of Presbyters might be augmented as the number of Converts did increase But that one Bishop should have the Authority over many Presbyters was a thing practised in the Apostolical times and universally received in the Church and there is not the least mention to be found that this was ever to cease and any other Government or none to be established in its room So that the Church of England is very excuseable if she still retain the primitive form and it might be the highest presumption if no worse if she should attempt to make any substantial alteration in it SECT III. The next thing in the Constitution of the Church of England which is disliked by many is the Liturgy or usual Form of Prayers prescribed by Authority as the ordinary Office of our publick Devotions But it cannot be esteemed any blemish to the English Reformation that the use of these has been injoyned much less should it be accounted as a thing unlawful Before our Saviours appearance in the flesh there is no doubt but that set Forms of Prayer were lawfully used in the Jewish Church some were appointed in the Law and the whole book of Psalms is nothing else but a Collection of such composed by David and other holy men upon several occasions and fitted for the publick service of the Temple Besides these they have other Forms some of which they pretend to have been made by Esdras and some they say as old as Moses However that be Prayer being none of those Ceremonies that were to be abolished but a principal part of that natural worship which all men owe to Almighty God it may as well be offered up in a set Form now as it was then For that which was once lawful will always continue to be so unless there be some command forbidding that to us which was allowed unto them I do not find any such prohibition as this in the Gospel but of so much we are sure that there is a Prayer recommended unto us by our blessed Saviour in which it is true all things are comprized which it may be necessary at any time for a Christian to ask But yet we may not therefore think that this is not to be used by us as a Form of Prayer because it is the most excellent one that was ever made and may be proposed as the most admirable pattern by which we may direct our selves and be still furni●●ed with suitable matter in all our addresses at the throne of Grace This is no good reason why it should be laid aside because it is more exact and perfect than any other Form And that our Saviour intended it should be used as such a one it may appear in that it consists of several distinct Petitions and most of these as it has been observed by learned men were such as were then familiarly known amongst the Jews and are still to be found in some of their devotional Books And this Prayer was delivered to the Disciples at two several times in the same Words once in the Sermon upon the Mount and again when they came unto him and desired him to teach them to pray as John had taught his Disciples And this methinks might be enough to convince us that it was a Form which they were to use but to put it out of all question our blessed Lord expresly commands it After this manner or thus therefore pray ye When he bids them pray thus and then immediately sets down a certain Form who can doubt but that he plainly commands them to use that Form But if it should be possible for any one to conceive that when it is said Pray thus or after this manner no more should be implyed but only that this is to be a pattern to make other prayers by and that the following Form is not to be used to any other purpose than this to avoid that when the same Prayer is repeated by another Evangelist upon a different occasion as if the Holy Ghost had designed to prevent this exception it is not said thus or after this manner but only when ye pray say Our Father c. A command so positive and absolute that if it may be evaded I do not see but that all the precepts of the Gospel may be cancelled upon the same grounds that can be pretended for the dissolving the obligation of this If it should be said to have been no more than a temporary command laid upon the Disciples at that time and that it was to indure no longer in force but till they had attained some higher degrees of perfection which they had not then arrived unto It is manifest that this command has no such restriction annexed and it is exceeding dangerous to make any where the Scripture has expressed none For suppose we should allow it but in this instance first that the command were but temporary men's extravagant fancies would presently extend it to as many more as they pleased and when they began to dislike any command that seemed to contradict their fond opinions they would immediately decry it as a thing wherein they were not concerned that it was only intended as a help to Novices and beginners but did not oblige such great proficients and persons of such mighty attainments as all bold and ignorant Enthusiasts are apt to imagine themselves to be And thus by yielding it in one particular we should lay the way open to the making void of the whole Gospel And so it has been known by experience that some by the natural improvement of this principle have laid aside the use of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and thought themselves above