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	church_n	great_a	2,904	5	3.2705	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94862	Triple episcopacie or, a three-fold order of bishops : one of God, another of men, and another of the divell; the two later must be pluckt up, the former only must continue, and the reasons why. With a declaration of certaine other weighty points concerning the discipline and government of the church		1641 (1641)	Wing T2287; Thomason E178_1; ESTC R212674	11,795	16

by his Apostolicall authority but by the authority of the whole Eldership neither doth Peter doubt to call himselfe fellow Elder Nay this is so farre off from being any good remedy from staying of schismes that contrariwise there was never more bitter contention in the Church than about this Primacy which had never come to passe if this preheminence above their fellows had been forbidden or rather if men had never brought it in Whereupon we conclude that this kinde of Bishop which is not of order but of superiority was brought in of man and as Hierome saith Tit. 1. by little and little and that so as he is indeed thought that the plants of dissention might be thereby plucked up all the care was committed to one man And whereas hee saith in the same place that it was decreed throughout all the world Wee are to understand it no otherwise than of a privie custome brought in by little and little And whatsoever is found in Ignatius or other antient Writers when the Bishop of Satan was not yet found out touching the authority of the Bishops or Over-seers as Justin speaketh is to be understood of this kinde of Bishop The Bishop of the Divell THus also we describe the Bishop of the Divell that even as that kind of Bishop ordained of God degenerated by little and little into an humane ordinance whereof wee intreated in the second place so this of the Divell against which we now labour is sprouted forth of the corruption of the Bishop brought in by man Of this intollerable corruption there are foule most manifest and undoubted markes Some of this kind of Bishops have wholy singled themselves from the Elderships so that they have nothing to doe with them Some have wholly abolished them And that they have challenged unto themselves and I know not to what Officials the whole guidance of the Church and chiefly the authority to elect to depose and to excommunicate so as they not onely are above others but as it were alone doe exercise Lordship over Gods inheritance contrary to the expresse inhibition of Peter That also they have invaded upon temporall dominions contrary to the flat commandement of Christ And that they will not only be present but also president in causes of this life and affaires of the Common-wealth the commandement of the Apostle to the contrary notwithstanding 2 Tim. 2. 1. Cor. 6. yea and that of Christ himselfe Luke 13. 14. That also they waste in riot and statelinesse against conscience and all shame the goods consecrated to holy uses That also they have tyed the Spirit of God to certaine places and persons as though the Bishop of the more noble place must needs haue necessary gifts above the rest or as though he who now is most fit must needs be so alwayes And last of all that they are the Image of that beast which is described Apoc 13. as Pope Anacletus himselfe witnesseth Epist 2. in as much as they are distinguished among themselves by those their thrones and degrees according to the patern of the Roman Empire The Apostle Act. 20. 19. foretold of this Hierarchie as they terme it of the false Bishop which in time became an Antichristian primacy And in the 3. John 9. it is most manifest that Satan begun even then to lay the foundation of this mysterie Now out of the History of the Nicene Councel which otherwise touching doctrine was every where received it is cleare how foule dissentions were even then of ordering the bonds betweene the Bishops the fountaines whereof they were so farre from damming up that pretending ancient customes they confirmed the Patriarchship and made a way for the horrible Papacie of Rome then sliding on and underlaid the seat for the Harlot that sitteth upon seven mountaines But far be it off that these things although they have their ancient great authority should be prejudiciall to the divine and Apostolicall writings according to the rule wherof there is no wise man wil doubt that the councels themselves are to be squared And to what purpose should I confute that agreement between the Priesthood of the Levites and of Christ which some old writers alledge to prove this divellish oligarchy and at the length even plaine tyranny Indeed it is evident that the high Priest was a figure of Christ himselfe whose second Image if wee grant that the Bishops are it will follow that there are as many images of Christ as there be Bishops in as much as there is none above him But contrariwise no Bishop hath been the Image of Christ Besides Bishops are not heads of the universal Church but of their own particular Nay no heads at all in as much as the Bishops are under Archbish the Archbishops under the Patriarchs they again under the Pope that is not under the true figure but the counter seit figure of Christ Now seeing that our only head is taken up into heaven a successor for whom living for ever we are not to seeke who seeth not that the Elders ordained by the Law of God come in theroome of the Priests of the Law and the Deacons to answer to the Levites The first Question Seeing that there are ordained in severall Churches severall Pastors and Ministers and the authority of all Christs Ministers in the Church seeme to be equall Whether the office of the Bishops be necessary in the Church to procure meetings when occasion ser●●●● 〈…〉 on just causes or whether all the Ministers having equall authority and not under the authority of any superiour Bishop ought to chuse fit men with the consent of the Patron who enjoyeth the benefice and the people themselves as also to correct and remove from the charge And the manners of the people themselves who can hardly or not at all be kept in obedience without the bridle of the Bishops authority which may runne through in visiting of the Churches of the Province may put us in minde to retaine such Bishops Againe so often as there shall be dealing in matters touching the safety of the common wealth in the solemne assemblies of the Land according to the Lawes which the kingdome hath of a long use and custome received there can be nothing established without the Bishops who have the third roome and place in the kingdome which to take away or wholly to put downe would be very dangerous to the Common-wealth The Answer to the first Question Whereas Satans Bishop hath been the overthrow of the Church and all the Christian kingdomes whose head is the Romane Antichrist it is to be looked unto of all hands especially of all godly Princes that they at once abolish it if they mind the reformation of the Church and their owne safety As for the Bishop ordained by man and brought into the Church by little and little whereby Satan made him a way for greater things it had beene tolerable so that with all the ancient good Lawes providing for the resisting of the

the true Religion it is a question whether there may be such an assembly without the consent or commandement of the Prince Whether the Ministers alone may meet as often as they will Last of all whether the Nobles and other godly men and Elders which are yeerly chosen with us out of the people nobility together may lawfully or expediently come without the commandement of the King to such assemblies Which assembly of the nobles and people seemeth to some altogether needlesse under a godly Prince either because it hath not long since beene received by a mere custome without any Law and that under a Prince who then resisted the Religion whereby such assemblies might have the greater authority or else because it may seeme dangerous if so many nobles assemble so often without the consent of the King they may sometimes consult of something else besides Religion Others thinke that this assembly is in no case to be refused but rather that it is very needfull that the Nobles and other Religious men be present as helpers to their Ministers in the assembly bearing witnesse of their life and the peoples behaviour otherwise it wil after come to passe that if an impious Prince raigne afterward that neither Ministers may safely assemble neither can the determination be put in execution without the consent helpe and aide of the nobles To the second Question Councels are necessary in the Church for many causes both to the retaining of agreement and also to the seeking of remedies by common advice for the dangers which fall out And last of all to take order for those that rest not in the judgement of particular seigniories if they thinke they have any injurie done them And these Councels are either of a whole nation or of some one Region or Province or Diocesse as they have begun to speake after the description of the Provinces of Rome divided into many Seigniories It is necessary that the Councels of the Provinces be divided for many causes and except there be other urgent causes they would be appointed rather every halse yeere then quarterly lest in discoursing of matters they spend the time in vaine And it will be best for the avoiding of Ambition that the Councell be not alwayes assembled in the same place of every Province but as soone as one halfe yeeres Synode is discussed it may be determined by common consent where shall be the place of the next following It will be very well that two of every seigniory of the Province chosen by common voyces and sent with some commission be present at these Councels one a Pastor and the other an Elder or a Deacon Neither would we have any strife about sitting who should sit first or last but every one to sit as it shall fall out without any contention and the judgement to be given as any one shall sit Now hee that shall governe the whole action who was chosen for this one thing by common consent of voyce the chiefe Pastor of the place being in the beginning President which office shall end when the Councell shall be ended There are no matters in question to be propounded to these Councels to take knowledge of but such as are more spirituall and belong to that Province where they are to be decided without appeale by the Word of God and the rules there set downe without any brabling or disturbance of the company Yet if any great private controversie shall fall out in the Provinciall Synode where some may think that he hath cause to complaine of injurie done unto him hee may put up his complaint to be decided in a generall Councell when it shall be thought good to assemble it Furthermore it is chiefely required that if all the Lawes of the Church be established of the Kings Christian Majestie It followeth that the Councels are to be assembled by his commandement and direction and not otherwise Neither yet is there a new commission every time to be sought for of the King for that purpose seeing his Majestie hath once established a Law touching the set times of ordinary Synods But yet if there arise just cause of suspition of handling in these meetings other matters besides meere Ecclesiasticall it shall be safe for the Kings Majesty to send one of his Subjects whom he will to grace by his presence the meeting of the Synodes where yet he is not to be as a Judge except some thing fall out where it is necessary that the authority of the civill Magistrate be put betweene A generall Councell of the Land is not to be assembled but upon great causes which seeing they agree not with set times it followeth that they are not to be standing neither but as often as something shall seeme to fall out of so great weight either in doctrine or in government of the Church as cannot well be decided but in a generall meeting that Province is to be careful to put other Provinces in mind concerning that matter in these halfe yeeres Synodes that with the consent of all or the greater part they goe unto the Kings Majesty who as being a Christian Prince is to desire nothing more than the peace of the Churches ought without any stay or doubting at the suit of the Churches to appoint a place and time for a generall meeting as the need of the Churches shall require And the same order may seem to be kept in the general councels which is in the Provinciall whether before the Kings Majesty himselfe as in some generall Councels the Emperours of Rome have been present or before the honourable Lords of the Kings Majesty And last of all whatsoever shall be allowed by the common consent of the Synode shall be confirmed by the Kings Maiesties expresse authority after the example of the godly Emperours FINIS