Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bishop_n	canon_n	church_n	1,560	5	4.2701	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55717	The present state of Germany, or, An account of the extent, rise, form, wealth, strength, weaknesses and interests of that empire the prerogatives of the emperor, and the priviledges of the cleaors, princes, and free cities, adapted to the present circumstances of that nation / by a person of quality.	Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von, 1632-1694.	1690 (1690)	Wing P3265; ESTC R16227	121,831	240

celebration of the Holy Offices of Religion who ought to have no other Employment and yet should be competently maintained That it was also fit that Churches should be built on the publick charge whose external beauty and magnificence might create in the Minds of Men an awful regard to Religion for the kindling the Devotion of the Common People But then I think no wise man will deny that those men who are no way necessary to the Service of God nor employed in his Worship ought not to be called or thought Churchmen or of the Clergy and that what was employed in the maintaining such men has nothing of Sanctity in it But in Germany the Clergy were so vastly enriched by the liberality of the old Emperors the Princes and the Common People that one half if not more of the Lands of that Nation was in their hands which was never heard of in any other and an innumerable shole of lazy useless men made it their business to live upon and devour this vast Wealth which was neither agreeable to the Rules of the Christian Religion nor of sound Policy The Holy Scriptures do indeed command as to provide decently and liberally for the Clergy and that we should not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the Corn but then they never give that name to those who have no share in the Ministry of the Church Nor do they any where exempt the Persons of the Clergy or their Revenues from the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate or disable them to attemperate the same in such manner as may be consistent with the Publick Good And your * The Author pretends to be a Venetian Venetian Republick understands none better that the Revenues and Riches of the Church are not to be excessively encreased to the damage of the State and she has accordingly wisely put a stop to that leak the Pope and Court of Rome opposing her in this Design in vain and without any success In truth she saw her self wasted by this means and as it were brought into a Consumption whilst her Riches and Lands were engrossed by a sort of men who acknowledge no Authority but that of an Head without their State and pretended at the same time they were exempted by the Divine Laws from contributing to the publick Burthens As to the number of Bishops Germany has no reason to complain except that considering the extent of the Nation they are too few to discharge their Office as they ought if they were otherwise well disposed to do it But to what purpose serves the vast Revenues belonging to these few Sees You will perhaps say they are Princes of the Empire as well as Bishops and take their share in the Care of the State with the other Princes Why then let them abstain from the Sacred Title of Bishops because that holy Office is inconsistent with the vast burthen of secular business which is necessarily attending on the Office of a Secular Prince let them lay by the first and stick wholly to the last Title for I think the Christian Religion would suffer no detriment if they did not celebrate one or two Masses in a year attended with a vast number of their Guards and Retinue in rich Garbs and with great pomp as if they designed nothing by it but to reproach the Poverty and mean Circumstances of the first settlers of the Christian Religion So let the Bishop of Mentz if he will possess his great Revenues to enable him to sustain the Dignity and Charge of his Office of Chancellor of Germany but then there is no apparent cause can be given why he should have a Bishop's See assigned to him when the other Princes of the Empire who have as great zeal for the welfare of their Country as he have been contented to take none but Temporal Titles Now what shall I say of the Canons of the Cathedral Churches which are the Blocks they hew into Bishops They perform none of the Sacred Offices and this they are not ashamed to own to all the World by calling themselves Irregular Canous and they too to spare their own precious Lungs fill their Churches with Noises made by their mercenary Curates and such of them as are not employed in Secular Affairs are meer useless Burthens of the Earth serving their Bellies and their Lusts Now as to those that are wholly employed in Worldly Concerns why are they called Holy men Why are they maintained by the Revenues of the Church And what shall I say of the excessive Riches of the Monasteries and of the wonderful swarms of shaven Crowns that hover about them It is certainly necessary that there should be Colleges for the sitting your Youth for the Service of the Church and State and I should be well pleased to suffer some few men to spend all their daies in them too in profound Contemplation for which only Nature has fitted them and besides if they were brought on the stage the world would lose the benefit of those advantages it might reap from their Studies so that as to these men the State would have no great reason to complain because at one time or other they would recompence the Charges of maintaining them with good Interest yet then both these sorts of men are most happy when they have sober and competent Provisions made for them over-great ones load them with fat which stifles and obstructs both their Vigour and Industry But then there doth not seem to be any good Reason that can possibly be given by the Wit of Man why the Publick should be at the charge of fatting up a vast number of lubbarly lazy fellows who have betaken themselves to their ugly Cowles out of pure desperation and are good for nothing but to fill the Church with sensless noises or Prayers repeated with such cold and unconcerned affections that they are fain to keep the account of them by their Beads The only pretence worth the regarding that is made for the excessive Riches of the Church is That the illustrious and noble Families of Germany have a means to provide for their younger Children who being promoted to Ecclesiastical Benefices are kept from being a Burthen to their own Families by which means Estates are kept from being crumbled into small Particles by dividing and subdividing them in every Descent and the Riches and Splendor of Families is upholden nay sometimes encreased the younger Brother who must otherwise have struggled with Want and Penury at home being advanced to considerable and rich Dignities in the Church And I confess it was a good Fetch and a crafty Policy in the Church of Rome thus to chain the noblest Families to her Interest and purchase their Favour But then though it is worth our care to consider how we may preserve the Families of our Nobility and Gentry yet in all probability they that first gave these Lands to the Church never dreamt of any such thing and it is most certain this