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	presbyter_n	1,664	5	10.2707	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26703	Cheirothesia tou presbyteriou, or, A letter to a friend tending to prove I. that valid ordination ought not to be repeated, II. that ordination by presbyters is valid : with an appendix in which some brief animadversions are made upon a lately published discourse of M. John Humfrey, concerning re-ordination / by R.A., a lover of truth and peace.	R. A. (Richard Alleine), 1611-1681.; Humfrey, John, 1621-1719. Question of re-ordination.	1661 (1661)	Wing A984; ESTC R3821	66,750	87

either they might not do so or at least did not think meet so to do When Paul was Ordained if Ordained was it not by three When Timothy was it not by a Presbytery But I will not go about further to fit a shooe to a foot I know not only give me leave to tell you that there is one Hypothesis which I perceive the Doctor laies much stresse upon in that and other Discourses the which unless it be granted to him and Adversaries are not now adayes so kind as to grant much he can never be able to prove I 'le give you it in his own words Disser p. 147 148. speaking of the words of Christ to his Disciples Mat. 28.19 He thus expresseth himself Illud sine dubio non universorum ad omnes sed singulorum ad singulas mundi plagas ut ad totidem Provincias aut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 administrandas profectione praestandum erat c. Quod factum juxta videmus cum Act. 1. Matthias in traditoris Judae locum surrogandus eligendus proponatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simulque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 25. Sic ut verba ista non ad Judam defunctum sed ad Successorem ejus superstitem pertineant adeoque in praecedente 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjungantur ut ad locum i. e. Provinciam propriam aut peculiarem aut singularem proficiscatur You see to gain some countenance to his Opinion from Scripture he is fain to make those words from which Judas fell to come in by way of Parenthesis and to refer the last words that he might go to his own place not to Judas the Son of Perdition but to Matthias or Barsabas one of which was now to be by the Lot falling on him chosen to make up the number But whom doth the Doctor follow in so doing Our English Translation No. His Friend Grotius Neither His words are significatur eventus scelera ipsius justo Dei judicio consecutus Proprium i.e. qui ipsi melius conveniebat quam Apostolica Functio And both he and Pricaeus make mention of a Greek Manuscript a very ancient one in which in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place which he deserved that is the Gallows or Hell it self I would fain know whether Provinces were divided to several Apostles by Christ or by agreement among the Apostles themselves If Christ designed each Apostle his distinct Province let it be shewn where and when If it be said that such Division was agreed upon among themselves I ask when Before their Masters Ascension or after 'T is not like 't was made before the Disciples then not being out of their Golden Dream of a temporal Kingdom as appears Acts 1.6 After the Ascention we find them all waiting at Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father and when they had received it V●de hanc hypothesin solide proliae refutatam a doctissimo Stilling-fleet Irenici p. 233 234 235 236. they still at least for some time continued at Jerusalem Acts 8.1 When they removed common Prudence dictated to them not to go all one way nor do I think they did but they disposed of themselves as God in his Providence directed and offered opportunity But so far were they from parcelling out of the world among themselves that sometime passed ere they were convinced that it was their duty or so much as lawful to preach unto the Gentiles By this time I hope you see that if there be any ground for the Divine Right of Episcopacy it must be Apostolical practise and I shall easily grant that the Apostles being by their Commission intrusted with the Government of the Church of God whatever they did with an intent to oblige succeeding ages may well be accounted to be established Jure Divino But then I do with some confidence challenge all the Prelatists to shew me in Sacred Writ any one example of a Bishop having Presbyters under him and yet engrossing all power of Jurisdiction and Order to himself Yea I do challenge them to shew me any one Bishop that had under his Charge so many Souls as are in your Parishes of Stepney and Cripplegate I take the Apostles to be unfixed Officers and such were Timothy and Titus Dr. Hammond himself who hath deserved best of the Episcopal Cause Annot. on Acts Chap. 11 p. 407. hath these words Although this Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders have been also extended to a 2d Order in the Church and is now only in use for them under the name of Presbyters yet in the Scripture times it belonged principally if not alone to Bishops there being no evidence that any of that second Order were then instituted though soon after before the writing of Ignatius his Epistles there were such instituted in all Churches Well then if there be no evidence that any such were instituted we shall think there were none such for de non existentibus non apparentibus eadem est ratio And if there were no Presbyters then there were no Bishops exercising Jurisdiction over Presbyters And 't is plain enough that every worshipping Congregation had its Bishop in the Apostles times But the Reverend Doctor in his Answer to the London Assemblers as he cals them p. 107. thus brings himself off John I know was an Apostle and John I believe ordained Presbyters and thence I doubt not to conclude the Apostolical Institution i. e. in effect the divine Right of the Order of Presbyters I also know that St. John was an Apostle but what should induce me to believe that he instituted a second sort of Presbyters who were only to preach and administer Sacraments but had no power either of Order or Jurisdiction Must I believe this with a Divine or humane Faith If with a divine Faith shew me some infallible Testimony for it If an humane Faith be the greatest and highest Faith a man can attain unto what a pitiful pickle are the poor Presbyters in that can only have some probable perswasion that their Order is Jure Divino Who would take upon him the Office of a Presbyter that can have no greater assurance that it was the mind of Christ that there should be any such Office in the Church Had Paul and Peter in their Provinces power to institute this second Order of Presbyters as well as St. John in his If they had not how was their power equal If they had why did they not put it forth It will not I suppose be said they wanted care but only that the number of Believers was not so increased during their abode in the earthly Tabernacle as to require such kind of Presbyters Well then they leaving the Churches by them planted to be governed by a Bishop and Deacons how will it be clearly and evidently proved that it was those Apostles intention that the Bishop who when they left him had power over the Deacons and people only

non sint qui minus quam atribus Ordinati sunt ordinati Episcopis omnibus patet quoniam ut bene nostis prohibitum a sacris est partribus ut qui ab u●o vel a duobus sunt ordinati Episcopis nominentur Episcopi Si nomen non habent qualiter Officium habebunt And in the 16 Canon of the African Council at which were present no fewer then 217 Bishops it was decreed in haec verba forma antiqua servabitur ut non minus quam tres sufficiant qui fuerint a Metropolitano directi ad Episcopum Ordinandum And this usage they seem to have borrowed from the Synagogue for it was a fundamental Constitution among the Jews that Ordination of Presbyters by laying on of hands must be by three at least as may be seen Misna Gem. tit Sanhe cap. 1. By the way I desire you to take notice how our Episcopal Brethren deal with us in this controversie they call upon us to shew them an example of a Presbyter laying hands on a Bishop this case could not happen but in the defect and absence of Bishops for modesty will not permit a Presbyter to lay on hands Bishops sufficient to do the work being present and such defects of Bishops could be but very rare but once we find there chanced to be such a defect and then a Church of no mean denomination thought a Presbyter sufficient to do what a Bishop was to do Now when we bring this example they rail against it and say that it was done only in the want of a Bishop and it had better have been left undone My second argument to prove the validity of Ordination by Presbyters I 'le put into this form Either Ordination by Presbyters is valid or else something essential to Ordination is wanting in Ordination by Presbyters But nothing essential to Ordination is wanting in Ordination by Presbyters ergo c. The major is evident grounded on this plain Proposition that it is only some essential defect that can make a thing invalid or null he that wants either body or soul is no true man he that hath them is truly a man though he want many of the integral parts which concur to the integrity and perfection of a man The minor I thus prove if any thing essential to Ordination be wanting in Ordination by Presbyters it is either material formal final or efficient cause but neither of these is wanting ergo nothing essential is wanting Let the material formal final causes be what they will doubtless they may be found in Ordinations by Presbyters as well as in Ordinations by a Bishop only we are told there is not a due efficient cause for God hath appropriated Ordination to a Bishop and it cannot have its effect if performed by any other then him that hath attained Episcopal Dignity This being that foundation upon which the confidence of those who nullifie all Ordinations by Presbyters whether at home or abroad is built I shall take liberty to enquire 1. Whether if there were a Law of God appropriating Ordination ordinarily to a Bishop it would follow that all Ordinations without a Bishop are null 2. Whether there be any such Law of God appropriating Ordination to a Bishop As to the first I humbly conceive that if a Law could be produced appropriating Ordination ordinarily to a Bishop it would not follow that Ordination without a Bishop were alway invalid and null my reasons are 1. Because 't is generally agreed that Jus Divinum rituale cedit morali necessitas quod cogit defendit 2. I find that whereas by the Law the Priests were to kill the sacrifices yet at such a time when the Priests were too few the Levites did help them 2 Chron. 29.34 and neither God nor the King nor the people offended at their so doing 3. Baptisme is appropriated to the Ministers of the Gospel yet if at any time it were administred by a Midwife who neither was a Minister nor was capable of being made such such baptisme was not by us here in England judged a nullity yea 't is affirmed by sundry Schoolmen that if baptisme were administred by one Excommunicate it were valid and not to be repeated and either my notes do fail me or else this was the judgement of St. Augustine for Melancthon out of Austin ad Fortunatum tells us this story That two men were in a ship which was like to perish in a storm at Sea the one very godly but yet not baptized the other baptized but excommunicated there being no other Christian in the ship with them and they fearing they should be both cast away knew not what to do in that condition he that was not baptized desired baptisme by the hands of him that was excommunicate and he that was excommunicate desired absolution from the other whereupon the question was moved whether these acts were valid and good Austin answers they were and commends the actious I come now to enquire Whether there be any Law of God appropriating Ordination to a Bishop I say there is not if any say there is illi incumbit probatio he must proferre tabulas produce the place where such a Law is recorded For my part having read the Scriptures with my best eyes I could never find any such place nor could I ever meet with that Episcopal Divine who could direct me to such a place some have sent me to Tit. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of late one hath ventured to tell us in print Mr. Sandcrof Ordination Sermon that this Text is as it were a kind of Magical glass in which an eye not blind with ignorance nor bleered with passion may see distinctly the face of the Primitive Church in that golden Age of the Apostles the platform of her Government the beautiful order of her Hierarchy the original and derivation of her chief Officers and their subordination both to one another and to Christ the great Bishop of our Souls in the last resort together with the manage and direction of the most important acts of Government both in point of Ordination and Jurisdiction too This learned mans phrasifying thus concerning his Text puts me in mind of that Impostor mentioned by Scultetus in his Annals who perswaded certain Noble men that he had adorned their Temple with very exquisite pictures but such as could be seen only by those who were begotten in lawful wedlock the Noble men lest they should be thought not lawfully begotten said that they very well saw that painting So here we are told of great matters that may be seen in this Text but only by those whose eyes are not blinded with ignorance nor bleered with passion and so men will be ready to say that they see these things lest their eyes should be judged under these sad distempers but I who have my conscience to bear me witness that I have often prayed for the eye-salve and Grace of the Spirit that my understanding may

of these heads so that to prove any thing hence we must first suppose the Judicial Law to be in force which would gratifie the Anabaptists and some other Fanaticks more then we are aware of I demand would our brethren prove hence that as there was superiority and inferiority of offices under the Law so there may be or must be under the Gospel we 'll not contend for we can yield it to them without any detriment to the cause of the Presbyterians they have Presbyters and Deacons and the office of a Presbyter is by all thought to be above the office of a Deacon but I had thought they would from the Jewish pattern have endeavoured to prove the Bishops power of Jurisdiction and Ordination whence they will fetch that I wot not not I hope from the supereminent power of the High-Priest the type of Christ for then we shall bring in a Pope not from the superiority of the Priests over the Levites for the Priests had no Jurisdiction over the Levites they had the several heads of their families under whose jurisdiction they were as for any power of Ordination it could have no place the Levites coming to their honour without Ordination by succession besides in a case of necessity I proved before that a Levite might do the work of a Priest If our brethren will grant that a Presbyter may in such a case do the work of a Bishop we shall be neerer an agreement then as yet we are Thus have we without any great difficulty rid our hands of the argument drawn from the Old Testament Come we to enquire whether J. Ch. by any action of his did institute any such Hierarchy as is contended for that he did is thus argued by a learned Doctor Episco Asser p. 22 23. This office of the ordinary Apostleship or Episcopacy derives its fountain from a rock Christs own distinguishing the Apostolate from the function of Presbyters for when our blessed Saviour had gathered many Disciples who believed him at his first preaching Vocavit Discipulos suos elegit duodecem ex ipsis quos Apostolos nominavit saith S. Luke he called his Disciples Luke 10. and out of them he chose twelve and called them Apostles that was the first Election Posthaec autem designavit Dominus alios septuaginta duos that was his second Election the first were called Apostles the second were not and yet he sent them two by two We hear but of one Commission granted them which when they had performed and returned joyful at their power over devils we hear no more of them in the Gospel but that their names were written in heaven we are likely therefore to hear of them after the passion if they can but hold their own and so we do for after the passion the Apostles gathered them together and joyned them in Clerical Commission by virtue of Christs first Ordination of them for a new Ordination we find none before we find them doing Clerical Offices Ananias we read baptizing of Saul Philip the Evangelist we find preaching in Samaria and baptizing his Converts others also we find Presbyters at Jerusalem especially at the first Council for there was Judas sirnamed Justus and Silas and S. Mark and John a Presbyter not an Apostle as Eusebius reports him and Simeon Cleophas who tarried there till he was made Bishop of Jerusalem These and divers others are reckoned to be of the number of the 72 by Eusebius and Dorotheus Here are plainly two Offices of Ecclesiastical Ministers Apostles and Presbyters so the Scripture calls them these were distinct and not temporary but succeeded to and if so then here is clearly a divine institution of two Orders and yet Deacons neither of them Answ This is a marvellous discourse the tendency whereof I understand not I think that Christ did neither institute Bishops nor Presbyters in this first or second Mission Both these Missions seem only temporary and the 70 after their return remained in the nature of private Disciples till after the Resurrection they received a new Commission to preach and plant Churches and the twelve after this Mission must needs be but a kind of Probationers till Christ solemnly authorized them and gave them that plenitude of power which we find him not to do till after his Resurrection from the dead Mat. 28.18 Joh. 20.21 Of any power of jurisdiction or order that the twelve had over the seventy by virtue of their Mission there is not the least vola or vestigium in Scripture the seventy had their power immediately from Christ as had the twelve and their Commission was as full and large as was the Commission granted to the twelve as will soon appear by comparing Mat. 10. with Luke 10. I observe indeed from John 4.2 that Christs Disciples did baptize but see no necessity of restraining that phrase to the twelve who were called his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Writers of the harmony of the Gospel do agree that this baptizing was before any Gospel Ministry was instituted yea before that Peter and Andrew James and John were called to be fishers of men that baptisme therefore might be administred by any of these that did usually accompany the Messias he appointing them so to do and so being chief in the action the learned Isaac Causabons words are considerable Etsi non Christus ipse sedejus Discipuli baptizabant Christi tamen non Discipulorum baptismus creditus est vocatus qua de re placet perelegantem Tertulliani locum proferre sic ille in libro de baptismo Sed ecce inquiunt venit Dominus non tinxit Legimus enim tamen is non tingebat sed Discipuli ejus quasi revera ipsum suis manibus tincturum Johannes praedicasset non utique sic intelligendum est sed simpliciter dictum more communi sicut est verbi gratia imperator proposuit edictum aut praefectus fustibus caecidit nunquid ipse proponit aut nunquid ipse caedit semper is dicitur facere cui praeministratur simile est quod Jurisconsulti tradunt videri eum facere qui per alium facit Besides Christ in his administrations did though in some things forsake yet in many if not in most things follow the Jewish mode and Mr. Lightfoot in his harmony of the New Testament page 18. tells us out of Maimony in Issure that to the Jewish baptisme it did suffice if there were but three though private persons present In a word we do not find that Christ before his Resurrection gave any order for the gathering of Gospel Churches and therefore gave not any power to his Apostles over them or any Officers belonging to them consider we therefore what he did when he was risen from the dead we find him appearing betwixt his Resurrection and Ascension seven times at the third time of his appearance he said to the Disciples John 20.21 As the Father sent me so send I you