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
A85386	Calumny arraign'd and cast. Or A briefe answer to some extravagant and rank passages, lately fallen from the pen of William Prynne, Esquire, in a late discourse, entituled, Truth triumphing over falshood, &c. against Mr John Goodwin, Minister of the Gospel. Wherein the loyall, unfeigned and unstained affection of the said John Goodwin to the Parliament, and civill magistracie, is irrefragably and fully vindicated and asserted against those broad and unchristian imputations, most untruly suggested in the said discourse against him. By the said John Goodvvin. Licensed entered and printed according to order.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing G1153; Thomason E26_18; ESTC R12923	51,593	64

rather levied upon the estate of his own modestie who by his own confession runs the hazard of perverting the meaning of those passages under debate whereas I never came so neere the crime of such a perversion as to ingage my self in any Interpretation of them at all But if you will please to heare his Interpretation and compare it diligently with his Text the passages cited by me from the Divines of Scotland you may very fairly translate Mr. Prynnes If I mistake not into certainly Mr. Prynne mistakes I Answer saith he 1. That their onely meaning if I mistake not in these passages is that the Prince or chiefe Civill Magistrate of himselfe without a Parliament or without the assistance and consent of his Nobles Commons Clergie cannot legally make any Ecclesiasticall Lawes to oblige his people Mark this saying well and see how like it looks to the genuine Interpretation sense or import of these and the like ensuing sentences All men as well Magistrates as inferiors ought to be subject to the judgement of the Nationall Assembly in Ecclesiasticall causes without any reclamation or appellation to any Judge Civill or Ecclesiasticall within the Realme Againe It belongeth to the Synod the Clergie having the chiefe place therein to give Direction and advice not to receive and approve the definition of the Prince in things which concerne the worship of God but it self to define and determine what Orders and Customes are fittest to be observed c. We see here in the Text that the chiefe place yea the sole power for what other sense can be put upon those words It belongeth to the Synod it self to define and determine of defining and determining Orders and Customes in things which concerne the worship of God is ascribed unto the Synod wherein also the Direction of the Clergie ought to be predominant not onely without the definition of the Prince or chiefe Civill Magistrate but with rejection of his definition NOT TO RECEIVE OR APPROVE THE DEFINITION OF THE PRINCE saith this text Whereas in Mr. Prynnes Interpretation the Prince or chiefe Civill Magistrate as we heard hath the preheminence and precedencie in all such definitions and determinations assigned unto him and next to him the Nobles and next to them the Commons of neither of which ne {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quidem in the Text are interessed in the same and the Clergie or Synod which are made the head and have the chiefe place if not the sole power about such definitions and determinations in the text are in the Interpretation made the taile and compelled to come behind all the rest as a partie borne out of due time or at least in the lowest influence of power for any such Interest If Mr. Prynne be not at the softest mistaken in this Interpretation the sense and meaning of those words Abraham begat Isaac a may very possibly be this that Judas went and hung himself b Judge Reader between me and my Adversary who hath more cause to blush and who is the more miserable wrester of words and perverter of meanings And whether there be not an ayre or gentle breathing of a contradiction in this period which he subjoynes within it self and in one part of it to the premised Interpretation I desire the Reader attentively to consider But that the King saith he or supreame temporall Magistrates assisted by a Parliament and Orthodox Divines may not make binding Ecclesiasticall Lawes or that their or our Parliaments have not a reall Legislative power in any matter Ecclestiastique the onely point controversed is directly contrary both to the constant Doctrine and Practise of our Brethren and their Church c. I beleeve that neither our Brethren nor their Church will conne Mr. Prynne thanks for this his vindication and plea for them but however I shall not speak in his cast nor forestall his market Onely I desire to know of him if their and our Parliaments have a reall Legislative Power in matters Ecclesiastique as he affirms in the latter part of the sentence why he requires an assistance of Orthodox Divines in the former part of it to make binding Ecclesiasticall Lawes They that have a reall Legislative power in or within themselves need no forinsecall assistance of others to make their Laws binding though they may need forinsecal advice for the better constitution of them as in Laws about any particular trade yea he had given this judgement in the case a little before as we heard that the Prince or chiefe civill Magistrate cannot legally make any Ecclesiasticall Lawes to oblige his people not onely not without a Parliament but not without his Clergie also Doth he not here interesse the Clergie every whit as farre and as deep in the very essence or substance of the Legislative power to make binding Ecclesiasticall Lawes for the people as he doth the Parliament it self And whereas in the passage last recited he affirms the onely point in controversie to be whether our Parliaments have not a reall legislative power in any matters Ecclesiastique I wonder why he storms me and my writings with so much indignation pag. 106 107. c. for printing passages onely charged by him as being against the Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction of Parliaments a which likewise is his usuall expression elsewhere Doth he apprehend no difference at all between an Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction power Authoritie and a legislative power in or about Ecclestiasticall matters or things Mr. Edwards if he will vouchsafe to learne of him will teach him a wide difference who in many places gives and grants unto the Magistrate a power and Authoritie about Ecclesiasticall causes and businesses b of many kinds though not of any c as Mr. Prynne bountie extendeth but no where to my remembrance grants any Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction or power to him yea p. 163. of his Antapologie he interrogates his Apologists Whether there doth not reside in the Church all Ecclesiasticall power absolutely necessary to the building up of the Kingdome of Christ and salvation of men even when the Magistrate is not of the Church The import of which interrogation agrees well with that assertion of the same Author and tract p. 169. that the civill power and Government of the Magistrate and the Ecclesiasticall Government of the Church are toto genere disjoyned and thereupon the power of the Civill Magistrate by which he deales with the corrupt manners and disorders of his people is in the nature and specificall reason distinct from Ecclesiasticall Discipline If there be an Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction or Legislative power in civill Magistrates Parliaments to make Ecclesiasticall binding Laws why may not the exercise of this power in the administration or execution of these Lawes be called Ecclesiasticall Discipline or Government yea why not rather Ecclesiasticall then civill So that Mr. Prynne confounding an Ecclesiasticall power with a power about Ecclesiasticall things plainly shews that he is not perfectly initiated in the mysterie

had little or no cause to glorie in that priviledge But Quod defertur non anfectur Quicquid sub terrâ est in apricum proferet aetas Having as you have heard befriended Mr. Edwards his fellow-labourer in the Presbyterian cause with the best accommodation he could to make one piece of him hang to another but alas who is able to comprimize between fire and water he proceeds and tels me behind my back and yet with an intent I presume that all the world should take notice of it that my passages out of Mr. Hayward Bishop Jewel Mr. Fox Mr. Calvin Jacobus Acontius c. make nothing at all against the legislative Authority of Parliaments in matters of Religion and Church Government and have no affinity with my passages words most of them propugning the very Ecclesiasticall power of Parliaments which I oppugne And yet in the very next words adds that indeed some of their words seem to diminish the coercive power of Magistrates and enforcing of mens consciences in matters of Religion as if I ever oppugned or denied any other Authority or power in Magistrates then this If he will please but to peruse my Innocencies triumph pag. 8. and my Innocency and Truth triumphing together pag. 72. 73. 78. with severall other passages in these and other my writings he will or at least very easily may see that I oppugne deny no other Authority power in Parliaments Civill Magistrates but onely that which is enforcing of mens consciences in matters of Religion Whereas he promiseth or undertakes that he shall in due place answer these words of theirs which as he saith seem to diminish the coercive power of Magistrates in matters of Religion and manifest how I abuse the Authors herein as well as Mr. Edwards My answer onely is that he may indeed soon answer them after that rate of answering at which he hath answered any thing of mine hitherto and he may shew how i. say that I abuse them and without writing or speaking as well as by either manifest that I abuse their Authors herein as well as I do Mr. Edwards But for this last particular I am willing to save him the labour and pains of writing for the manifestation of it For I here freely confesse that I have abused these Authors in what he speaks of just as I have abused Mr. Edwards and both of them just as much as amounts to no abuse at all I wonder by what art or way the Gentleman means to go to work to prove that I have miserably wrested or abused the Authors he here speaks of or their words when as I have put no construction at all or interpretation upon their words nor drawn any inference or deduction from them but onely transcribed them with as much diligence and faithfulnesse as I could and presented them cleerly as they stand in their respective Authors If his meaning be that I have miserably wrested and abused them by my quotation of them as subservient to my cause or purpose a deed of folly which himself commits with the holy Scriptures themselves many a time and often my answer is that were this assertion true that they are not subservient to my cause or purpose yet my recourse unto them for aid to my purpose were no miserable wresting or abusing of them Our Saviour being an hungry did not abuse the fig-tree by repairing to it though there prov'd nothing upon it for his purpose Nor should Mr. Prynne abuse a Tavern by going into it to drink a cup of wine that pleaseth him though he shold be disappointed in his expectation when he comes there Nay in this case would he not rather think and that much more reasonably of the two that the Taverne had abused him then he it In like manner if those Authors and sayings which I have produced and which Mr. Prynne speaks of have no affinity with my passages and purpose I may much more truly and reasonably say that they have abused me then Mr. Prynne can either say or ever prove that I have abused them For the truth is if they do fall me or refuse to stand by me in the defence of those passages spoken of when Mr. Prynne hath done his worst to them they are the greatest dissemblers that ever wore the livery of paper and inke Never were there sentences or sayings that more fully and freely complied with any mans notions whatsoever in terms and words then farre the greatest part of these do with my passages and purpose If Mr. Prynne can dissolve or abrogate the Authoritie of Grammar rules and destroy the naturall and proper signification of words then may I have some cause to fear that he may possibly evict me to be a miserable wrester and abuser of Authors and their sayings But if words be able to defend themselves and make good the possession of their known significations and rules of construction their both ancient and moderne interest in the understandings of men against the Authority or violence of Mr. Prynnes pen I defie all his interminations and threatnings of manifesting me either a miserable wrester or abuser of my Authors The last parcell of his high contest against me in this Discourse is that I pervert the meaning of the Divines of Scotland in one or more or I know not he knows not how many or how few of those passages which I cite from them whereas I meddle not little or much with any sense or meaning of any of them but onely barely tender them unto the Reader leaving it free unto him to judge of the sense and meaning of them and whether they consort with my apprehensions or no And though he be doubtfull of that interpretation or meaning which himself however adventures to put upon them as there is reason more then enough why he should delivering himself with this sub-modest caution If I mistake not yet am I rated and chidden at no lower rate then this you may THEREFORE blush at this I wonder which your perverting of their meaning as if they held that the Parliaments of England or Scotland had no power to make Ecclestasticall Laws for Religion and Church Government THEREFORE may I blush wherefore what because Mr. Prynne hath put such a sense and interpretation upon the passages in hand of which he knows not it seems what to make but suspects a mistake in it Blush in this respect I confesse I may but what cause have I to blush at my perverting of their meaning when as 1. I do not interpose to put any meaning I mean any particular or speciall meaning upon any of them 2. Why should I blush upon Mr. Prynnes injunction at any meaning which I put upon them when as that very meaning which himself puts upon them by way of confutation and disparagement of that which he pretends to be mine is by himself little lesse then suspected for a mistake The tax of blushing which Mr. Prynne imposeth upon me should in reason be

of Presbyterie and did not his writings more accommodate that cause and partie by the weight of their Authoritie and height of language and confidence together with unparalleld bitternesse against his opposites then by their worth in strength of reason I beleeve they would hardly think them worthy to be numbred amongst their Benefactors But notwithstanding all that Mr. Prynne hath done or said to or against me or my Innocencies Triumph in particular in the 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 pages of this his Discourse yet his spes gregis the strength of his hope that he hath done sufficient execution upon me rests onely upon his former sections however the Question of many concerning them is Cui bono He tells me that my own conscience and judgement cannot but informe me that he hath written enough in the former Sections to convince me and all the world besides that I have not onely violated but denyed oppugned those Priviledges of Parliament in Ecclesiasticall affaires which our own Parliaments in all ages and Parliamentary Assemblies in all other Kingdomes have unquestionably exercised c. I answer 1. I confesse that in the former sections he hath written enough quantitativè to convince any reasonable man if not all the world of any errour or mistake whatsoever but much too little qualitativè to convince either me or any reasonable man that I have violated or oppugned any Priviledge of Parliament I have farre more reason to conceive and hope that in this and my last-published Discourse I have written enough both wayes to convince both him and all the world that I have NOT violated or oppugned any Priviledge of Parliament truly or with the consent of Heaven so called If he intends to conclude that therefore I have violated oppugned the Privileges of Parliament because I have argued against some positions or opinions which Mr. Prynne with some others are pleased to call Priviledges of Parliament the Logician who is a man of reason will answer for me that à terminis diminuentibus non sequitur argumentatio It doth not follow that a piece of metall or coyne is therefore gold because it is counterfeit gold nor that Mr. Prynnes Great Grandfather is a man because he is a dead man If he can or shall fairly demonstrate unto me though in a far lesse content of words then his three former sections amount unto that any act practise or exercise either by continuance or succession of time or by frequencie of repetition or customarinesse of reiteration by connivencie or want of opposition from men must needs change the nature and kind of it and of sinfull become lawfull he shall by such a demonstration as this put life into his former sections and render them potent for that conviction which he expects from them but till this be done that great bulk and body of things done in the dark and time out of minde will partake of that infirmitie which the Author himself acknowledgeth as cleaving to the Discourse I meane impotencie a and can with no tolerable pretence of reason or equitie demand that interest in the judgements consciences understandings of men which he challengeth it seems on their behalfe It is as poore and low a designe onely by alledging the examples opinions or judgements of men to attempt the conviction of him that builds his opinion upon the Scriptures word of God yea though he builds besides his foundation as it would be in a man to carry a sack of chaffe to the market hoping to bring home a like quantitie of wheat for it without giving any other price Yea to alledge and cite the Scriptures themselves though in never such an abundance without close arguing and binding them to our cause is a means of very small hope whereby to prevaile or doe good upon such a man who holds his opinion not barely or simply upon a supposall of scripture-Scripture-Authoritie for it but upon Scripture thoroughly debated and by principles of sound reason and naturall deductions brought home unto his judgement and cause Againe 2. in all that great body of premisses contained in all the former Sections he speaks of there is not one word syllable letter or tittle to prove that maine ingredient in his Conclusion unquestionably exercised Logicians justly reject and exauthorize all such Conclusions which swell above the line of their premisses By all the tables and donaries presented unto Neptune by those that in Shipwracks escaped with their lives it could not be knowne who or how many they were that were drowned 3. Nor is there any whit more in any in all the said Sections or premisses that reacheth home or indeed comes neere to that specialtie in the Conclusion in all ages Evanders mother lived many ages agone yet the mother of Abel had the precedencie of her by many generations Therefore surely all the world will never accept of the Conclusion so insufficiently and lamely prov'd 4. And lastly Whereas Mr. Prynne tells me that if I now make not good my promise few or none will ever credit me hereafter I should be very glad to meet with my condition that so I might performe my obligation But in the meane time whether any or none will credit me hereafter I know not well how I or any other should credit him for the present as touching the authentiqueness and truth of those citations and transcriptions upon which the principall weight of that Conclusion depends whereof he expects conviction both from me and all the world to boote Is it lightly possible for any man to refraine jealousie in this kind that doth but consider how oft his pen hath dash'd against the rock of truth in representing me my opinions and sayings yea I can say further affections intentions upon the open theatre of the world where any man that will may see his nakednesse in this kinde Is boldnesse in the Sun like to prove modestiē in the shade As for satisfaction by examination of all particulars it is not every mans indeed very few mens opportunitie The respective Authors and records wherein particularities must be inquired after and found for satisfaction in that kind are in few mens hands and not of all mens understandings So that Mr. Prynne by dealing so unfaithfully and unchristianly by me and my sayings as he hath done hath not onely obstructed the course and passages of his own reputation and credit but hath further also injur'd the world round about him by rendring those good parts and abilities wherewith God hath intrusted him for publick accommodation if not wholly unserviceable yet of very meane usefulnesse and concernment in comparison of what their line and tenour would well have borne It is a saying in the Civill Law that he that hath injur'd one hath threatened many I end with a word of Christian admonition and advice both to the Gentleman my Antagonist and my selfe Sir the Great and Glorious God that made us in mercy remembers both our frames and