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	civil_a	ecclesiastical_a	1,455	5	8.0000	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88100	A discourse concerning Puritans. A vindication of those, who uniustly suffer by the mistake, abuse, and misapplication of that name. A tract necessary and usefull for these times.	Ley, John, 1583-1662, attributed name.; Parker, Henry, 1604-1652, attributed name.	1641 (1641)	Wing L1875; Thomason E204_3; ESTC R15236	40,576	60

extreams alike as well to represse Papal Bishops as to curbe proud Puritans For sayes the King the naturall sicknesses which have ever troubled and beene the decay of all Churches since the beginning changing the Candlestick from one to another have beene pride ambition and avarice and these wrought the overthrow of the Romish Church in divers Countries K. James knew well how apt Church-men had ever beene to abuse their power and pomp what enemies they had beene to our Saviour and what a tyranny they had erected over all Christendom ever since Constantine almost and therefore though Hee dislikes a democracie in the Church as Hee had reason yet Hee so limits and circumscribes his Bishops both in power and honour that they might be as sensible of their chaines and fetters as of their Miters and Crosiers I wish K. Iames had particularly signified what bonds and bounds Hee thought fit to prefix to Episcopacy to preserve it from corruption and what his opinion was of a Prelacy so active in secular affaires as ours is now in England and how it would have pleased him to see a Metropolitan amongst Protestants almost a rivall to the French Cardinall The world in my opinion hath little reason to dote upon a gowned Empire we have all smarted long enough under it men of meane birth commonly beare preferment with little moderation and their breeding having beene soft and esseminate in their malice cruelty they neerest of all approach to the nature of women and by the advantage of learning they extend their power and win upon others more then they ought When the Church was at first under Heathen or Jewish Governours which sought as enemies to ruine it not as Fathers to protect it they which were within could not live in peace and unity without some Politicall bonds so at that time there was a necessity of some coercive power within besides that which was without The world is now unsatisfied what kinde of power that was whether Episcopal or Presbyteriall or what Episcopacy or Presbytery was in those dayes Yet me thinks what government so ever then was it is not necessarily precedentary to us now The Episcopal faction at this day takes advantage by the abuses of the Presbyter al the Presbyterial by the Episcopal and most men think either the one power or the other necessary and some more favour the Episcopal as K. Iames some the Presbyterial as M. Calvin but sure the Presbyterial is lesse offensive then the Episcopal and yet neither the one nor other of necessity Kings may grant usuram quandam jurisdictionis either to Bishops or Elders but the jurisdiction it selfe is their owne property from which they ought not to depart nor can without wrong to their charge committed to them For the power which God gives the Prince is not given for his use alone but for the peoples benefit so that since He cannot let it fall to decay without making it insufficient for good and entire government which is mischievous to the people he cannot justly lessen it at all And it is manifest that except one supream head be alone in all causes as wel Ecclesiastical as civill humane nature must needs be destitute of those remedies which are necessary for its conservation since power cannot be divided but it must be diminished to him which suffers that division and being diminished it proves insufficient All confesse some government necessary for men in holy Orders to whom the power of the Keyes belongs but some account Princes but as meere temporall or Lay persons and therefore conclude against their authority over sacred Ecclesiastical persons as incompetent especially in cases meerely ecclesiasticall For this cause spirituall Governours have ever beene in the Church to whom some have attributed a divine right depending from none but God and subordinate to none but God but this hath beene controverted by others and no little debate and strife hath followed hereupon But it seemes to me that princes doe receive from God a spirituall unction whereby not only their persons are dignified and their hearts prepared and enlarged with divine graces fit for rule but their functions also innobled and sanctified above any other whatsoever and higher advanced then the sense of Laick or Secular will beare To Princes an assistance of counsell is requisite in spirituall as in civill affaires but that that Counsaile ought to bee composed onely of persons Ecclesiasticall or that those persons ought to bee invested with all those Ensignes of Honour and Authority which our Bishops now claime as of divine right seemes not necessary Clergy-men are not alwayes the most knowing in all Ecclesiasticall cases neither are they at all indifferent and impartiall in many which concerne their owne honour and profit as the world feeles to its regret therefore for jurisdiction they are not the most competent But be they of what use soever they may still remaine subordinate and at the Princes election and admitted of ad consilium solum not ad consensum and it had beene happy for all Christians these many hundred yeares by-past if they had not been further hearkned to The Sacerdotall function is not at all disparaged by this subordination for whether the order of Princes be more sacred then that of Bishops or not it is all one to Priests for an obedience they owe and must pay be it to the one Order or the other Our Bishops at this day stand much upon their Divine right of Jurisdiction and they refer their style to the providence of God immediately not to the grace of the King and though in words they acknowledge a Supremacy of power to remain to the King yet indeed I think they mean rather a priority of order Whatsoever Supremacy they meane if it be not such as makes them meerely subordinate and dependent so that the King may limit alter or extinguish their jurisdiction as far as He may to his civil Judges they derogate much from his Kingly office Bishops for their claim of Jurisdiction ought to prove that they alone did exercise it over all in all causes from our Saviours dayes till the entrance of Christian Princes and that being cleared they must further prove that those times also are leading and precedentary to ours In both these their proofes are lame especially in the latter for neither is the power of the Keyes the same thing as Iurisdiction nor is jurisdiction now as it was in the Apostles dayes nor is the State of the times now the same as then In those dayes either Christians were to implead one another before Infidel Magistrates whatsoever the case were criminall or civill spirituall or temporall or else they were to erect some tribunall in the Church or else they were to await no justice at all and because some judicature within the Church was most fit therefore Christ himselfe according to the exigence of those times did indow his Church with a divine Oeconomy which was partly miraculous of

Ethicall Principles but it is easily proved by us that such power can extend to no proper jurisdiction at all in humane affaires but is a meere speculative motion and such wee deny not Thirdly Hee yields that in Jurisdiction there bee three things distinct First matter of Law Secondly matter of fact Thirdly matter of execution whereby retribution is made to every fact according to Law The first of these and that in Spirituall Cases alone being tryable by Clergy-men only Admit this and nothing follows but that things meerly Spirituall are best knowne to Spirituall persons there is no power here concluded As for example In case of Heresie that I hold such an opinion must appeare by witnesses and proofs and herein all kinds of witnesses besides Clergy-men are competent Next that this opinion is hereticall requires the judgement of Ecclesiasticall persons but it does not follow if they be the fittest Judges herein that they must be the supreme Judges herein and not aswell Dependent and Subordinate as our Civill Judges are in common actions But in the last place that such an hereticall opinion so dangerous and pestilent to the Church and Common-wealth ought to be corrected or cradicated by such coercive force and the raising of that force whereby it is to be punished is in the judgement and in the power of the Supreame Magistrate for two Magistrates cannot have a Supreame power of the same sword Either the Secular must command the Ecclesiasticall or the Ecclesiasticall must command the Secular as to coercive power or a worse confusion then either must needs follow So then it is the Execution of Justice alone which is essentiall to the Supreame Governour Matter of Law requires a Counsellour matter of Fact a witnesse Matter of Execution alone intimates a Prince and that Principality cannot bee divided betwixt two persons of a severall nature From hence then it appeares plainly that no Catholike differing from the Court of Rome ascribes more to Clergy men then this first point of adjudging according to the Law of God in things Divine and this implyes rather a dependent then an independent condition in the Judge and in this Protestants joyne with full consent But all this while I finde my selfe in a digression my scope is not to prove that Protestants doe attribute sufficient to Priests it lies upon mee to prove that they attribute too much to them and herein I am to undertake not only the Episcopall but the Presbyteriall side also not only Protestant Prelates but even Master CALVIN that great Arch-prelate also Divines have much trumped the World hitherto in not setting forth the true bounds and limits of Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction but if I mistake not the first power which they claime as most essentiall they take to be the power of the Keyes though they define not certainly what that is whether a Power or Office or to whom belonging or of what extent and continuance The second power which they insist upon as next issuing out of the power of the Keyes is in Excommunication Ordination of Ministers Exposition of Scriptures c. The third and more remote kinde of causes wherein they challenge an Ecclesiasticall power is of such as concerne Matrimonie Testaments Heresies Fasts Tythes and Immunnities of Clergymen c. And further doubtlesse they would proceed but that these savour so much of the Temporality and discover their trumpery but I have said if in all these cases Clergy men are necessarily more knowing and impartiall then all the else there is necessity of their Counsell to declare matter of Law but not of their Consent in applying coercive and forcible remedies for the execution of Law I have said also that Clergy-men being as well Citizens of the Common-wealth as sons of the Church and these Cases importing as well perturbance of the State as annoyance to the Church that there can be but one Head which ought to have command over both and in both It is manifest also that many Cases are partly temporall and partly spirituall and that scarce any is so temporall but that it relates in some order to spirituall things or any so spirituall but that it hath some relation to temporall things so that the true subject of Ecclesiasticall and civill justice cannot rightly be divided Further also it is as manifest that where any doubt strife or uncertainty may arise between one Iurisdiction and another neither acknowledging any supreame power of decision no assured peace can continue and by consequence no stability or permanent subsistence to either is to be expected It is naturall therefore to be inferred that either the Temporall or the Ecclesiasticall Magistrate must bee in all Cases absolutely predominant and that since the Ecclesiastical ought not by Christs owne command therefore the temporall ought as hath been further proved by sundry arguments and Scripture proofes alledged out of this famous Politician So much of the temporall power and its necessary Supremacie my endevour shall be now to maintain that no Ecclesiasticall power is at all necessary in meere Ecclesiasticall persons Master Calvin according to the Popish grounds maintaines that spirituall jurisdiction differs from temporall is not incompatible but assistant therto because it proposes not the same ends but severall which by severall meanes may be the better compassed But the spirituall Magistrate as I conceive can propose no other end then what the Secular ought to ayme at for either the Prince ought to have no care at all of the Honour of God and the good of men and that which is the prime meane of both true Religion or else his ends must bee the same which the Prelate aymes at viz. to vindicate Religion by removing and correcting scandalous offenders Secondly to preserve the innocent from contagion by the separation of open offenders Thirdly to prevent further obduration or to procure the amendment of such as have transgressed by wholsome chastisement This is beyond all controversie as also that the Person and Power of a Prince are as sacred to effect these ends as the Prelates and certainly God did not so sanctifie their persons and offices for any lesse end And therefore in ancient times Holy Bishops did Preach and recommend nothing more to Princes then the care of Religion though proud Prelates now arrogate this onely to themselves and though it be still apparent that no offence is so spirituall but that it is a civill evill as well as a blemish to Religion forsomuch as true Religion is the foundation of a State And this could not bee neither were Princes answerable to God for the corruption of Religion if God had not given them a supreame power and that effectuall to bring all offenders whatsoever to confession satisfaction and contrition or to expell them the congregation by themselves or their surrogates Master Calvin instances in adultery drunkennes c. and sayes that the temporall power punishes these by externall force and for publick examples sake as it

we see who Puritans are all such as hold not with Episcopacy that is in probability halfe Ireland more then halfe England all Scotland and many other Protestant Countries King James did put a difference betwixt such as disrelisht Bishops and Ceremonies meerly and such as under that pretext fraudulently sought to perturbe the State and make a factious separation But here the difference of all Puritans is graduall only not substantiall for dislike of Bishops is the beginning of all Heresie and must needs end in Anabaptisme and rebellion How plainly does it here appeare that Episcopacy is the true Helena of all this warre and yet Saint Cyprian is to be understood of the Pastorall function not of the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction of a Bishop or else in his sense the Genevans and the greatest part of Protestants are Heretiques and King James made a frivolous distinction Such stuffe as this had not mis-beseemed a Papist but it s very odde in a Protestant Bishop except wee consider him as one who hath looke back towards the Onions and Flesh-pots of Aegypt and is inamor'd again upon those glorious titles ensignes of Honour and Pompe which Rome confers upon her Courtiers But to conclude this point I wish Princes would not allow such Bishops to be carvers to themselves and make them Judges in cases of their owne interesse they are surely good spectacles for Princes in Theologicall deliberations as Temporall Counsellors are in State affaires but miserable are those Princes whose eyes cannot see without such spectacles If Religion did not prosper worse if peace were not more violated if persecution were not more common in Countries wher Bishops govern than where they are expelled we might suspect the Scots as Hereticall and Rebellious by nature for chusing all the plagues of warre rather then Bishops but when we see the contrary we may aswell listen to the Scots against Bishops as to Bishops against the Scots So much of the Ecclesiasticall Puritan next after whom sprung up the Puritan in Religion of whom I shall speak very briefly There are many men amongst us now which brooke Bishops and Ceremonies well enough and perhaps favourably interpret our late innovations and yet these may be too grave to escape the name of Puritans To be a Protestant may be allowed but to dispute against Papists smels of preciseness to hold the Pope fallible is tolerated but to hold him Antichrist is abominable Puritanisme to goe to Church is fashionable but to complaine of the Masse or to be grieved at the publick countenance of Popery whereby it intwines our Religion and now drinkes up that Sap which is scarce afforded to Protestantisme or at all to take notice how far some of our Divines are hereat conniving if not cooperating is a sumptome of a deepe infected Puritan He that is not moderate in Religion is a Puritan and hee that is not a Cassandrian or of Father Francis Syncters faith is not moderate he savours too much of Calvins grosse learning exploded now by our finest wits But I passe from this kinde of Puritan to another whom I shall call my Politicall Puritan for the bounds of Puritanisme are yet larger and inclose men of other conditions Some there are yet which perhaps disfavour not at all either Ecclesiasticall Policy or moderate Papists and yet neverthelesse this is not sufficient to acquit them from the name of Puritans if they ascribe any thing to the Lawes and Liberties of this Realme or hold the Prerogative royall to be limitable by any Law whatsoever If they hold not against Parliaments and with Ship-money they are injurious to Kings and to be injurious to Kings is proprium quarto modo to a Puritan Our present civill nay more then civill warre with Scotland and all the mischiefes thereon attending the disaffection betweene the King and his Subjects and all the mischiefes thereon attending the discontinuance of Parliaments the proper remedies of all State-maladies and universall grievances which is a mischiefe whereby all mischiefes become incurable all are caused by the abusive mistake and injurious misapplication of this word Puritan The Scots are Puritans and therefore enemies to Monarchy the English are Puritans and therefore haters of Royall prerogative both the Nations have beene hitherto famous for their devout reverence and obsequious zeale to their Princes but now Puritanisme has infected them and perverted them to disloyalty Thus is the Kings heart alienated from his Subjects and by consequence the Subjects loyalty blunted towards him to the incomparable almost irreparable detriment of both neither is this disaccord betweene the King and his best Subjects more fatall and pernicious to the Common-wealth then his accord with the Recusant faction Papists have now gotten the repute of the best Subjects and fittest for trust in places of eminent service nay 't is almost necessary that forraine Papists be brought in for the supporting of the indangered royalty for though the Popish faction at Court be strong and active enough for matter of Counsell yet for matter of force the Puritans in City and Countrey be too predominant The Bishop of Downe in his visitation speech layes all the calamities of Church and Common-wealth upon Non-conformists and for proofe thereof instances in the Covenanters whom he charges of rebellion charging withall that rebellion upon Puritanisme The first thing saies he that made me out of love with that Religion was their injurious dealing with Kings which I observed both in their practice and doctrine He taxes first their doctrine because they deny the Kings supremacy in causes Ecclesiasticall and allow Subjects to resist nay and depose their King if he be a Tyrant Surely Ahab could say little for himselfe if he could not lay his owne crimes upon Elijah but see here by what art of confusion all Scots are called Puritans and all Puritans rebels King James spoke not so confusedly as if Puritanisme were a Religion and all that disliked Bishops and Ceremonies were of that Religion and all of that Religion were enemies to Kings If a Bishop needed any proofe if his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} were not unquestionable I would desire him to prove all Covenanters Puritans and all Puritans denyers of the Kings supremacy or to instance in any Kings which have beene deposed or murdred by Presbyteriall authority How far Bishops have incroached upon Kings is known to al the world our Protestant Bishops lately have by Oath and Canon combined together to bind the Kings hands though hee be Supreme that he shall not governe our Church but by Arch-bishops Bishops Arch-deacons c. and yet these troublers of Israel have the face to taxe Elijah of their owne sin Presbytery indeed has heretofore passed her bounds yet not of late but Episcopacy has ever from Constantine claimed an independence of Divine right till this instant I conceive there are not in all the Kings Dominions three men except Papists and Anabaptists which hold it lawfull to depose or