Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	authority_n	church_n	see_v	1,737	5	3.7569	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78088	A brief view of Mr. Coleman his new-modell of church government, delivered by him in a late sermon, upon Job 11.20.	Byfield, Adoniram, d. 1660.	1645 (1645)	Wing B6378; Thomason E307_8; ESTC R200340	30,341	36

A BRIEF VIEW OF Mr. Coleman his New-Modell OF CHVRCH GOVERNMENT DELIVERED By him in a late Sermon upon JOB 11. 20. Greg. Naz. In Ecclesiis ordo definvit ut aliud quidem sit occise alii verò pastores aliud cum imperio praesit aliud imperio subsit Aliud manuum aliud oculorum Aliud denique alterius membro corporis vicem sustineat quae membra ad aptam totius compositionem ac utilitatem vel inferiora sunt vel excellunt c. London Printed by John Field for Ralph Smith at the sign of the Bible in Cornhill neer the Royall Exchange 1645. A brief View of Mr. Coleman his new Modell of Church Government delivered by him in a late SERMON upon Iob. 11. 20. SIR LEt it not be offensive unto you that one who is not satisfied with what you have delivered in your late Sermon upon Job 11. 20. should with submission to better judgements offer unto you a few things further to be considered by you the rather because you have occasioned not onely some scruples to my self upon the reading thereof but to others also and yet I do assure you I am neither of the number of them who as your Epistle saith approved your pains above commendation nor disliked them below detestation What I conceive is therein warranted by Divine truth I willingly approve and assent thereunto and where I stick as questioning the truth I now crave leave to offer my doubts to your second thoughts You are perswading to unity in the Church now miserably distracted and you said that Government is eyed as the onely help to the allaying of that trouble and for the effectuall furthering of that work you are pleased to lay down to the Honourable House severall Rules or Essayes which I think being weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary will be found too light and cannot be made good by the word of God the true touch-stone of all truth but how ever my purpose God willing is to examine 1. Your Rules and bring them to the Test that we may try whether they conduce to the end for which you propound them 2. We 'll consider whether you have not unjustly fastened upon some eminent Divines in the Assembly an uneven bya● which to you seemed to mislead them in the same 3. Somewhat shall be added of your unbrotherlike slighting of the Assembly In all which I shall endeavour with as much brevity as I can to offer unto you my thoughts and crave your resolution I confesse it may peradventure seem superfluous for me to Mr. Gillespee Utile est plures libros à pluribus fieri diverso stylo non diversâ fide etiam de questionibus iisdem ut ad plurimos res ipsa peacutivat ad alios sic ad alios autem sic August de Trin. lib. 1. cap. 3. examine what you have said after a judicious tryall that is already past upon your Rules by a Reverend and learned Divine I am of his minde who thought it was conducing to the benefit of the Church that sundry books should be written by sundry men differing in stile but agreeing in the same truth about the same questions that the subject insisted on might be made known to many to some in one way to others in another The Rules or Essayes for unity and agreement produced by you I have perused and do not see what clear reason they carry to make them serviceable to that end for which you offer them and therefore how they should be either helpfull to the worke or usefull to the workmen as yet I see not For in your second Rule you seem to intimate that there is no strength in your Arguments of which according to our light one may conclude different wayes Sure I am he that should hold out the contrary to all your Rules might upon as good ground call them Essayes for agreement and unity as for instance he that should say 1. Establish as much Jure Divino as may be 2. Do not straighten Institutions to expresse Scriptures 3. Let the Ministers of Iesus Christ be invested with the actuall exercise of that power and Government which Iesus Christ hath betrusted them withall 4. Let the Civill and Ecclesiasticall power both of them act in their own sphere and not the one encroach upon the other let it be equall Sacriledge to rob the Kingdom of Christ of the power of the Civill Magistrate and for the Civill Magistrate to ingrosse all the governing power of the Church He that should draw forth rules of this nature should as much further unity and agreement in the Church and more then he that shall adhere to your rules therefore they seem to me not to be conducing to the end for which they are brought forth but to the Rules themselves In your first Rule you insist on two things First you would have as few things established Jure Divino as may be thereupon you call to hold out the practise but not that ground of the practise two reasons you give hereof 1. Because men differently principled may meet in one practise 2. Because it may be will be of a larger extent then it must be In the second thing you touch upon in this call you lay forth the reason which seemed to you to be the only cause that hindred union in the Assembly The first thing in the Rule you drive at is That at few things be established Iure Divino as can well be this Rule would have better become a Polititian then a Divine Sir Remember your place a Divine his part is to plead for as much as God hath laid down to be his right reason would require you should either plead for your Masters right or quit your station to others who speak in the defence of their masters just cause are his ashamed to plead our cause take heed that threatning befall not you Mar. 8. 38. Or are you afraid to appear for it where is the cause of your fear Authority commands you to search for it why should you then shrinke to hold it forth unto them and by them to the Church all that I conceive you can plead is this It is not clearly held forth to your light though others see it have not these things been debated before you and was there no weight in all those debates I presume you being a Member of the Assembly cannot be ignorant what was there discuss'd in your hearing I cannot think that you did Obturatis auribus hearken thereunto either then give place to their Votes or in a rationall way bring forth your exceptions against them Paphnucius indeed dissented from the great Councell at Nice but he brought for his Warrant of Divine Authority and laid about him with the sword of the word that satisfied the rest and so they all gave place unto him whilest he pleaded Scripture for what he maintained do you so and then shall you wi● your erring Brethren Hitherto you have only on the

bare authority of your word denied that which is maintained by so many learned men amongst you here and in famous Churches abroad with strength of Argument and authority of the word herein you cannot but see you are wanting to the cause which you would defend Why should you be so shy of holding out of Divine right a●● we not to endeavour a Reformation of Religion in Discipline and Government as well as in Doctrine and Worship according to the word of God Why should we then be afraid of the Jus divinum in the one more then in the other when I seriously consider with my self what may be the reason why you bogle at Ius Divinum in Government and would not have it held out I cannot but wonder this was not the practise of Gods Ministers in former Ages when the holy Prophets came either to quicken the people in the wayes of God or to reduce them from idolatry the first thing they did was to hold forth unto them the Divine Authority with which they were strengthened to speak therefore usually they begun Thus saith the Lord and is not this the judg●ment of all Reformed Churches that in all matters of controversie the Church hath no determining power either without besides or against the Scripture whereby its apparent they conceive as much must be held forth in all controversies Willet 3. controv 4. quest in the Church to be by Divine right established as may be Secondly in this Rule you require That the practise but not the ground of the practise be held out Why both these two should not be held out when they may clearly be gathered up I see not for will not the knowledge of the ground alwayes make way for the right setling and ordering of the practise Some may look upon this position of yours as upon a Proposition which comes neer to the verge of Popish Fide● implicita because it seems to drive at this that men should more depend upon the States or Churches authority then on Gods word which ought to be the ground of that Authority for in your sense if they have the practise imposed on them they must rest therein and never seek for any warrantable ground of the same which will yield but small comfort to any in that practise Sir you know that kinde of Demonstration hath ever been held in the Schooles to be most Scientificall in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men proceed from the Causes to the Effects and from the essence of the thing to demonstrate the passions of the same And why should not that rule hold here For when men see the ground upon which the practise is imposed and from which it doth arise then will they ever more willingly yield unto the practise and better be established in the same So have the Church formerly thought and therefore were ever careful to hold forth to the world the ground of their practise when the Orthodox had to do with the Arians in Constantius his time and could come to no accord with them they sent from the Councell to the Emperour twenty of their Opinion to represent what they held unto him but withall they charged them to confirm the Opinion of the Councell by the light of Soz. 4. 17. Conc. Arimin the Scripture Here both the practise and the grounds upon which they proceeded were held forth together And why we should not do the like in this Age I know not The Reasons by which you seem to strengthen your self herein are two First because Knowledge of that practise alone will gather more Nay Secondly Men differently principled may meet in one practise You know who said of old if men live exactly accordingly to the principles of their own Religion though they agree not in the same truth● they might be saved Me thinks in this phrase of yours you come neer him I would not have that Haereticall spirit long since layd in the dust and exploded by the Church raked up again by you Secondly You say it may be will be of larger extent then it must be Suppose that upon prudentiall considerations the Rule is carried no higher then i● may be yet why should not the ground of this it may be be held out as well as the practise Can there be more Lordly and Domineering power exercised over the Consciences of men then to prescribe unto them in maters of the greatest concernment the practise of that of which there is no ground o● the ground thereof is not fit to be held out unto the people In your third Rule you will call that a Domineering Power which hath no boundary do you not in this then make way for such an Arbitrary power A practise without a ground hath no bounds but in the wills of men In the closure of this Rule you lay forth the Reason which to you seemed to be the cause that hindred Vnion in the Assembly This shall be God willing taken into consideration when I have viewed all your Rules in the last place distinctly by it self And so I come to your second Rule In which you mention many things which because they have no necessary dependence one upon another I le take them up as they fell from your pen. In generall I say of this Rule that you do not hold out any thing distinct from the former I take it onely for an Explanation of what you meant by jus Divinum viz. That which onely is contained in expresse and clear Scriptures But more particularly to the Rule in which the first thing you fall upon is That Institutions should have clear Scriptures Wherein you drive at this that no practise without an institution expressed in clear Scriptures must be a Rule to guide the Church by How this Rule can be usefull for Government in the Church I see not But if it should be granted to be good Divinity it would not more strongly conclude against the Presbyteriall Government then it doth for the Anti-Sabbatarians Anabaptists and other Sectaries c. who call for institutions expressed in clear Scriptures for many things which cannot be brought forth yet the practise of them is very lawful agreeable to the Word and necessary in the Church But Sir Are there not many things of Divine right of whose formall institution we read not where have you any formall institution or precept expressed in clear Scriptures for Womens receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper of Administring the Sacrament of Baptisme in water And yet if the institution of both these may be gathered out of practise recorded in Scripture why may it not be admitted though we read not of the institution totidem verbis 'T is true we reade of an injunction given by Christ to his Church to Baptize but whether in Water or any other Liquor it is not particularly let down yet because the Administration of all Baptismes recorded in the Scriptures was by water it is warrant enough for the Church