Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	civil_a	ecclesiastical_a	jurisdiction_n	1,713	5	9.3902	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53681	A discourse concerning evangelical love, church-peace and unity with the occasions and reasons of present differences and divisions about things sacred and religious, written in the vindication of the principles and practise of some ministers and others.	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1672 (1672)	Wing O735; ESTC R13316	129,318	262

Body of the Church promising it should be bound and loosed in Heaven whatever they did bind and loose on earth and that whatever they did ask with a common consent should be granted by the Father In this charitable office to give satisfaction to the offended and pardon to the offendor the Primitive Church was alwayes exercised And in conformity to this St. Paul ordained that brethren having Civil Suits one against another should not go to the Tribunals of Infidels but that wise men should be appointed to judg the Differences and this was a kind of Civil Judgment as the other had the similitude of a Criminal but were both so different from the Judgments of the world that as these are executed by the Power of the Judg who enforceth submission so those only by the will of the guilty to receive them who refusing of them the Ecclesiastical Judge remaineth without execution and hath no power but to foreshew the Judgment of God which according unto his omnipotent good pleasure will follow in this life or the next And indeed the Ecclesiastical Judgment did deserve the name of Charity in regard that it did only induee the guilty to submit and the Church to judg with such sincerity that neither in the one any bad effect could have place nor just complaint in the other and the excess of charity in correcting did make the Corrector to feel greater pain than the corrected so that in the Church no punishment was imposed without lamentation of the multitude and greater of the better sort And this was the cause why to correct was called to Lament So St. Paul rebuking of the Corinchians for not chastising the incestuous said you have not lamented to separate such a Transgressor from you And in another Epistle I fear that when I come unto you I shall not find you such as I desire but in contentions and tumults and that at my coming I shall lament many of those who have sinned before The Judgment of the Church as it is necessary in every multitude was fit that it should be conducted by one who should preside and guide the action propose the matters and collect the poynts to be consulted on This care due to the most principal and worthy psrson was alwayes committed to the Bishop And when the Churches were many the propositions and deliberations were made by the Bishop first in the Colledge of the Priests and Deacons which they called the Presbitery and there were ripened to receive afterwards the last resolution in the general Congregation of the Church This form was still on foot in the year 250 and is plainly seen by the Epistles of Cyprian who in the matter concerning those who did eat of meats offered to Idols and subscribe to the Religion of the Gentiles writeth to the Presbitery that he doth not think to do any thing without their counsel consent of the people writeth to the people that at his return he will examine the causes and merits thereof in their presence and under their judgment and he wrote to those Priests who of their own brain had reconciled some that they should give an account to the people The Goodness and Charity of the Bishops made their Opinion for the most part to be followed and by little and little was cause that the Church Charity waxing cold not regarding the Charge laid upon them by Christ did lean the ear to the Bishop and Ambition a witty Passion which doth insinuate it self in the shew of Virtue did cause it to be readily embraced But the principal cause of the change was the ceasing of the Persecutions For then the Bishops did erect as it were a Tribunal which was much frequented because as Temporal Commodities so Suits did encrease This Judgment though it were not as the former in regard of the Form to determine all by the Opinion of the Church yet it was of the same Sincerity Whereupon Constantine seeing how profitable it was to determine Causes and that by the Authority of Religion captious actions were discovered which the Jadges could not penetrate made a Law that there should lie no Appeal from the Sentences of Bishops which should be executed by the Secular Judge And if in a Cause depending before a Secular Tribunal in any state thereof either of the Parties though the other contradict shall demand the Episcopal Judgment the Cause shall be immediately remitted to him Here the Tribunal of the Bishop began to be a common Pleading Place having Execution by the Ministry of the Magistrate and to gain the name of Episcopal Jurisdiction Episcopal Audience and such like The Emperor Valence did enlarge it who in the Year 365. gave the Bishop the care over all the Prizes of vendible things This Judicial Negotiation pleased not the good Bishops Possidonius doth recount that Austin being employed herein sometimes until Dinner-time sometimes longer was wont to say that it was a trouble and did divert him from doing things proper unto him and himself writeth that it was to leave things profitable and to attend things tumultuous and perplexed And St. Paul did not take it unto himself as being not fit for a Preacher but would have it given to others Afterwards some Bishops beginning to abuse the Authority given them by the Law of Constantine that was seventy years after revoked by Horcadius and Honorius and an Ordination made that they should judge Causes of Religion and not Civil except both Parties did consent and declared that they should not be thought to have a Court Which Law being not much observed in Rome in regard of the great power of the Bishops Valentinian being in the City in the year 452. did renew it and made it to be put in execution But a little after some part of the Power taken away was restored by the Princes that followed so that Justinian did establish unto them a Court and Audience and assigned unto them the Causes of Religion the Ecclesiastical Faults of the Clergy and divers voluntary Jurisdictions also over the Laity By these Degrees the charitable correction of Christ did degenerate into Domination and made Christians lose their ancient Reverence and Obedience It is denied in words That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is Dominion as is the Secular yet one knoweth not how to put a difference between them But St. Paul did put it when he wrote to Timothy and repeated it to Titus that a Bishop should not be greedy of gain nor a Striker Now on the contrary they made men pay for Processes and imprison the Parties as is done in the Secular Court c. This Degeneracy of Discipline was long since esteemed burdensome and looked on as the cause of innumerable troubles and grievances unto all sorts of people Yea it hath had no better esteem among them who had little or no acquaintance with what is taught concerning these things in the Scripture Only they found an Inconsistency in it with those Laws and Priviledges

Schismatick a Divider of the Churches Vnity and an enemy unto the Peace and Order of it Howbeit of Conformity unto such Institutions and Orders of men of Vniformity in the observation of such external Rites in the worship of the Church there is not one word spoken nor any thing of that nature intimated in all the Commands for Vnity which are given unto us nor in the Directions that are sanctified unto the due preservation of it Yet such an Vniformity being set up in the room of Evangelical Unity and Order Means suited unto the preservation of it but really destructive of that whose name it beareth and whose Place it possesseth have not been wanting And it is not unworthy consideration how men endeavour to deceive others and are deceived themselves by manifold Equivocations in their arguings about this Matter For first they lay down the necessity of Vnity among Christians with the evil that is in Breaches Divisions and Schismes which they prove from the Commands of the one and the Reproofs of the other that abound in the Scripture Then with an easie deduction they prove that it is a Duty incumbent on all Christians in their several Capacities to observe keep further and promote this Vnity and to prevent oppose resist and avoid all Divisions that are contrary thereunto If so the Magistrate must do the same in his place and capacity Now seeing it is his Office and unto him of God it is committed to exercise his power in Laws and Penalties for the promoting of what is good and the punishing of what is contrary thereunto it is his Duty to coerce restrain and punish all those who oppose despise or any way break or disturb the Unity of the Church And this Ratiocination would seem reasonable were it not doubly defective For first the Vnity intended in the first Proposition whose necessity is confirmed by Scripture-Testimonies is utterly lost before we come to the Conclusion and the outward Vniformity mentioned is substituted in the room thereof And hereby in the second place are they deceived to believe that external force and penalties are a means to be used by any for the attaining or preserving of Gospel-Vnity It is not improbable indeed but that it may be suited to give countenance unto that external Vniformity which is intended but that it should be so unto the promotion of Gospel-Vnion among Believers is a weak imagination Let such persons keep themselves and their Argument unto that Vnion which the Scripture commends amongst the Disciples of Christ and his Churches with the means fitted and appointed unto the preservation of it and they shall have our compliance with any Conclusion that will thence ensue Herein therefore lies the Fundamental Cause of our Divisions which will not be healed until it be removed and taken out of the way Leave Believers or Professors of the Gospel unto their Duty in seeking after Evangelical Vnity in the use of other Means instituted and blessed unto that End impose nothing on their Consciences or Practice under that Name which indeed belongs not thereunto and although upon the Reasons and Causes afterwards to be mentioned there may for a season remain some Divisions among them yet there will be a way of healing continually ready for them and agreed upon by them as such Where indeed men propose unto themselves different Ends though under the same Name the use of the same Means for the compassing of them will but encrease their variance As where some aim at Evangelical Vnion and others at an External Vniformity both under the name of Vnity and Peace in the use of the same Means for these Ends they will be more divided among themselves But where the same End is aimed at even the debate of the Means for the attaining of it will insensibly bring the Parties at difference into a Coalition and work out in the issue a compleat Reconciliation In the mean time were Christians duly instructed how many lesser Differences in Mind Judgment and Practice are really consistent with the Nature Ends and genuine Fruit of the Vnity that Christ requires among them it would undoubtedly prevail with them so to mannage themselves in their Differences by mutual forbearance and condescention in Love as not to contract the guilt of being Disturbers or Breakers of it For suppose the Minds of any of them to be invincibly prepossessed with the Principles wherein they differ from others yet all who are sincere in their Profession cannot but rejoyce to be directed unto such a Mannagery of them as to be preserved from the guilt of dissolving the Unity appointed by Christ to be observed And to speak plainly among all the Churches in the world which are free from Idolatry and Persecution it is not different Opinions or a difference in Judgment about revealed Truths nor a different practice in sacred Administrations but Pride Self-interest Love of Honour Reputation and Dominion with the influence of Civil or Political Intrigues and Considerations that are the true cause of that defect of Evangelical Vnity that is at this day amongst them For set them aside and the real differences which would remain may be so mannaged in Love Gentleness and Meekness as not to interfere with that Vnity which Christ requireth them to preserve Nothing will from thence follow which shall impeach their common Interest in one Lord one Faith one Love one Spirit and the Administration of the same Ordinances according to their Light and Ability But if we shall cast away this Evangelical Vnion among the Disciples and Churches of Christ if we shall break up the Bounds and Limits fixed unto it and set up in its place a compliance with or an agreement in the Commands and Appointments of men making their Observations the Rule and measure of our Ecclesiastical Concord it cannot be but that innumerable and endless Divisions will ensue thereon If we will not be contented with the Union that Christ hath appointed it is certain we shall have none in this world For concerning that which is of mens finding out there have been and will be Contentions and Divisions whilst there are any on the one side who will endeavour its imposition and on the other who desire to preserve their Consciences entire unto the Authority of Christ in his Laws and Appointments There is none who can be such a Stranger in our Israel as not to know that these things have been the great Occasion and Cause of of the Divisions and Contentions that have been among us near an hundred years and which at this day make our Breaches wide like the Sea that they cannot be healed Let therefore those who have Power and Ability be instrumental to restore to the minds of men the true Notion and Knowledge of the Unity which the Lord Christ requireth among his Churches and Disciples and let them be left unto that Liberty which he hath purchased for them in the pursuit of that Vnity which he hath prescribed