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	jurisdiction_n	power_n	1,683	5	4.9363	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44410	A discourse concerning Lent in two parts : the first an historical account of its observation, the second an essay concern[ing] its original : this subdivided into two repartitions whereof the first is preparatory and shews that most of our Christian ordinances are deriv'd from the Jews, and the second conjectures that Lent is of the same original.	Hooper, George, 1640-1727.	1695 (1695)	Wing H2700; ESTC R29439	185,165	511

from Ephesus were admonished to take care of the Flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops (o) Acts 20.28 And the Presbyter of whose Ordination St. Paul speaks to Titus is in the next Verse save one stil'd Bishop (p) Tit. 1.5 7. We see therefore that the New Testament has not only taken the Name from the Old but the largeness of its signification too which is all at present I am concern'd to observe Tho' I presume this Word as well as Apostle had now a peculiar Office of which it was properly spoke and to which in the next Age it is known to have been always determin'd (q) See Ch. VIII § IV. THE next that follows for so I take leave to place in the Christian Church what some would set in equal rank is the Presbyter or Elder This Word in the Greek of the Septuagint is known answerably to the Hebrew to signifie not only a Man of Years but Authority as Words of the like import have always done in Ancient and Modern Languages a So the Steward of Abraham's House stil'd by our Translators the eldest Servant of his House who rul'd over all that he had (b) Gen. 24.2 is suppos'd to be call'd by those Interpreters the Presbyter or Elder of his House c In that Sense we have the Elders of Pharaoh's House and of the Land of Aegypt (d) Gen. 50.7 And when it is said Hezekiah took Counsel with his Princes and his mighty Men (e) 2 Chr. 32.3 in the Septuagint it is with his Presbyters and mighty Men. And in like manner by the Presbyters or Elders of the People of Israel Princes and great ones of them are understood at large (f) Num. 11.16 of which the greatest and chief were the Twelve Heads or Princes of the Tribes Of such Elders or Governours there were Seventy we know appointed by Moses at the command of God (g) Num. 11.16 17. to bear part of the burden of the Magistracy with him and to be a Council unto him endow'd therefore with a Communication of the Spirit Of this great standing Council known afterwards by the Name of the Sanhedrim the Jewish Tradition speaks very copiously and though the Scripture says nothing of any Superiority amongst those Seventy yet they tell us expresly what otherwise we must have presum'd That one of them was President of this Council and Vicegerent to Moses the Prince Such a Council as this they say sat at Jerusalem in after Ages and govern'd the whole People consisting of a Chief and Prince for that is the signification of Nasi in the place of Moses and of Seventy more one of whom was the Vicegerent of that Chief or Prince call'd by them the Father of the Council Besides this Sovereign Court sitting in the Temple there were also Inferiour Provincial Consistories according to the appointment of God in these words Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all the Gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee (h) Deut. 16.18 And whereas the number of these Judges or Elders is here left undetermin'd Josephus repeating the same Injunction directs them to be Seven (i) Archaeol 4.8 supposing I presume that they were so many in the times near to Moses But the Traditionary Jews will have them in every great City to have been twenty three they too as I also presume speaking from the practice of some later times Of these twenty three they tell us One was stil'd also the Nasi or Prince the Chief of that Tribe or Place and another likewise was his Vicegerent call'd also the Father of that Consistory And the like distinction we may suppose to have been between Josephus his Seven and that Two of them were a Chief and a Deputy and the other Five ordinary Elders These were the Consistories of great Cities but in lesser Districts there was as the Rabbins tell us a Magistracy or Presbytery of Three which Judg'd in lesser Matters And further it seems k there are those who sometimes go by the Name of Elders but whose chief business is to take care of the Goods of the Commnnity and whose Authority extends only to causes of voluntary Jurisdiction and these are call'd the Seven good Men of the place retaining the number though not the Power of Josephus his Magistrates The Talmudists who have been silent concerning Apostles and Bishops are very particular as we may perceive concerning Presbyters and pretend to give us a punctual account of their Creation and Office as we may see at large in Mr. Selden (l) De Syn. l. 2. c. 4 5 6. And an Abstract of what is further necessary here follows out of that very Learned Gentleman's copious Collections on this Subject These Presbyters then were of two sorts the One had a Full and the other a Limited Authority (m) Seld. de Syn. lib. 2. cap. 7. An Elder of the first kind was capable of being call'd up to the Courts of great Cities and Provinces having Authority not only to expound the Law and to resolve Cases of Consciences but to Judge in all Causes both Criminal and Civil And these were call'd Rabbi The other the Limited Elders were either such as had Power to be of one of the inferiour Consistories of Three in lesser Districts and to Judge only of Pecuniary Causes or such who were not capable of Jurisdiction and could only expound the Law or else who were not qualified to direct in the whole Law but were confin'd to particular Cases To this Office of Eldership they were ordain'd by Imposition of Hands with Words signifying the Authority committed or else by Letter-Patent or Missive And every Presbyter of the first sort was they say permitted to Ordain at first but afterwards it was not to be done but by Three and not without the leave of the Prince or Chief or by the Chief and his Vicegerent together Now there are three things concerning these Presbyters which Mr. Selden particularly remarks and which we will not therefore forget but remember as occasion shall offer The first is That no Presbyter with full Power could be Ordain'd by any out of the Holy Land for from that place only Authority in Criminal Causes could proceed and thence only a Faculty could be given that would be good thorough the whole World Whereas those whom the Head of the Captivity himself ordain'd out of that Country had Jurisdiction in none but Pecuniary Causes and were call'd only Mar or Rab and those who were ordain'd by others had Jurisdiction only in the District where they were ordained (n) Seld. Ibid. cap. 7. §. 5. Accordingly as Buxtorf observes (n2) Buxt Syn. I. 46. The Jews of Spain and the Levant do not honour themselves with the stile of Mar or Rab being content to be call'd the Disciples of the Learn'd though in Germany they make bold with those Titles and promote with the old Formality where too they have an

and might withal be the sacred Table on which the Word of God should be plac'd that Lamp unto our Feet and Light unto our Paths y The Excellently Learn'd Mr. Dodwell in his Book of One Priest and One Altar differs not from what is here said He puts indeed our Bishops in the place of the Jewish High Priests Ch. 9. but then he supposes those High Priests to have been the Representatives of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the High-High Priest Ch. 8. As therefore Bishops now are the Substitutes of our Lord so they answer the old High Priest are such in some sense High Priests themselves but as He has now been pleas'd openly to own and to Execute that Office so they are thenceforth in propriety of Speech to forbear that title and to own themselves for his Vicegerents and Sagans CHAP. IX § I. The Sentence and Effects of Excommunication with Christians as with Jews and the Relaxation of it alike § II. Their Agreement in the estimate of the Guilt of Sins and the appointments of Penance § I. EXcommunication as we have seen (a) Ch. 5. was with the Jews a Punishment with which their Presbyterial Authority was arm'd and which besides if it was not also decreed was certainly Executed by the Sacerdotal and that Sentence we must think was then most valid and most effectual when it was pass'd by both those Powers Such an Excommunication we have seen too Directed in the New Testament and Executed and afterwards Releas'd And the same Jurisdiction how it continued to be Exercis'd in the Church we are now to consider This Discipline then is well known to have been Executed in the Primitive Church by the Bishops and Priests with great severity and to have been much dreaded by the Guilty And the account of it we may take from Tertullian as he describes it in his Apology (b) Ch. 39. Being to justify the Christian Assemblies from the Imputation put upon them by the Imperial Officers and common Opinion of their being Unlawful Associations and dangerous Conventicles He says We are indeed a Corporation embodied by our Agreement in the same Religion and Obedience to the same Discipline and are Confederate by the same Hope We Meet together but it is before God Him we surround with our Prayers and as it were with our Numbers Force but this is such a violence as is acceptable unto Him And then our Prayers are for our Emperours for their Officers and such as are put in Authority We meet but it is to refresh our memory by Reading the Word of God There too c is the place for Exhortation and for Reproof and there our Manners are Inspected and Censur'd as it were by God himself For Causes are there judg'd with great deliberation as it is fit to be done by those who know that they Judge in the Presence and sight of God and if any one shall be found so Criminal as to be Excluded from the Communion of our Prayers and Assemblies and from the rest of our Holy Commerce this Judgment so pass'd upon him is taken for the Highest Presumption that can be of a like Judgment to come Elders or Governours the best approv'd Preside over us such as have purchas'd the Honour not by Money but by their Deserts for nothing belonging to God is to be bought with Money By those who Preside over us we are chiefly to understand the Bishop and then the Presbyters who are said above (d) Ch. 8. §. 2. in the language of Ignatius to the Magnesians to preside also And likewise it appears manifestly that the Authority by which they act is not look'd on as founded upon any voluntary agreement of the Fraternity but upon the Law of God Neither is it necessary that I should trouble the Reader with any further Proof from the Antients either for the Immemorial Practice of Excommunication or for the constant Presumption of its Authority from God Fig. I. Fig. II. Fig. III. place this after P● And agreeably to this we have already seen that Excommunication with the Jews was Lighter or Heavier and differently Aggravated as the Cause deserv'd (f) Ch. 5. §. 1. It has likewise appear'd probable that the several Excommunicates may have lain under several Prohibitions as to their Approach in the Synagogues or Temple (g) Sect. 3. And since it has been shown that the Jewish Proselytes enter'd into their Religion by the same Degrees by which the Christians did (h) Ch. 6. we cannot doubt but those of them who had been solemnly excluded the Temple ordinarily Re-enter'd it after the same manner advancing successively thorough the several Courts as those did who had been under corporal Pollution according to the measure of their suppos'd Purification We have yet spoken only of the spiritual effect of Excommunication and Tertullian mentions the Exclusion from all Sacred Commerce only and this no doubt is the proper jurisdiction of that Presbyterial Authority which pretends not to govern the Commerce or Negotiations of this World But there can be no question but that the Faithful always avoided any great Familiarity or intimate Conversation with the Excommunicates other than to Reform and Reconvert them And this the Scripture it self seems to direct (i) 1 Cor. 5.11 and necessary it was to the Humiliation and Mortification of the Criminal and for the danger of others being corrupted by him though the other common Entercourse the Christians were to have with their Neighbours of all sorts was to be regulated by the Policy of that Temporal Government to which they belong'd But when the Government became Christian as it thought fit to enlarge the proper Presbyterial Power with some new Jurisdiction in things confining upon that Office as in Causes Testamentary and Matrimonial so it back'd their Excommunication with civil Restraints and Penalties And thence those who were under the Greater Excommunication have been forbid all common Conversation renderd uncapable of several Legal Benefits and sometimes Imprison'd or otherwise punish'd in Body or Estate in all which proceedings the Patterns of the Jews as is evident has been much follow'd as it seems to be in the Three Admonitions before the Sentence the consideration of the contempt of the Court on which it is founded the pronouncing it by Bell and Candle and Executing it even upon the Dead (k) See Ch. 5. §. 1. § II. AND thus much may suffice at present for the correspondence of the Sentence and Effect of Excommunication with the Jews and with the Christians but they also agree further about the Crimes that are to be the Cause of it and about the means of its Absolution The most Grievous Crimes in the judgment of the Antient Church were Idolatry Adultery and Murder as Morinus has demonstrated (a) Mor. de Poen lib. 5. cap. 1. And that they are so estimated by the Jews he has also sufficiently prov'd (b) Ibid Cap. 3. And concerning Repentance and Expiation or