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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ecclesiastical_a	king_n	temporal_a	3,017	5	8.3913	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91392	The true grounds of ecclesiasticall regiment set forth in a briefe dissertation. Maintaining the Kings spirituall supremacie against the pretended independencie of the prelates, &c. Together, vvith some passages touching the ecclesiasticall power of parliaments, the use of synods, and the power of excommunication.	Parker, Henry, 1604-1652.	1641 (1641)	Wing P428; Thomason E176_18; ESTC R212682	61,943	101

from these Tenets but because many of them especially Clergimen do not wholly dissent from all the grounds of these Tenets therefore they also doe partake in some errours and absurdities of the like nature One Scotist says That Mountague and our learnedest Protestant Divines nay even Rainolds himselfe though otherwise a Puritan yet they all hold that there is due to the King no spirituall but only a temporall rule over persons and causes Ecclesiasticall and that also by accident for the common peace sake Hee sayes also that in his presence at a Cambridge Commencement the chiefe Bishop was called Maximus Pater and that it was maintained that the care of spirituall things did appertain to the chiefe Bishop and of temporall to the King and whereas it was at last concluded that all was to be governed by the King yet he sayes questionless the intent was civilitèr not spiritualitèr And if wee look back to the primitives we shal find that in good times before Popery had any considerable growth Kings for penance were enjoyned to kneele to Priests and were not admitted to have seats in the Chancell neere the Altar no not amongst the Deacons but were sometimes subjected to heavie and sharp censures of Bishops and sometimes strucke with the thunderbolt of Excommunication it self And we shall find that the Name Church was applyed in common speech to Churchmen only and the Name Spiritualitie was taken in the same sense as if all other persons had beene strangers to the Church and had beene of a meere Temporall and Secular condition and by the name Clergie it was intimated to the World that the Sacerdotall function was the only lot and patrimony of God and these usages were ab antiquo And wee shall finde that the holiest and learnedest Fathers of the Church did seeme to preferre the Mitre before the Diademe and to dream of a Spirituall Empire belonging to Priests more worthy and sacred then that of Emperours And therefore Gregory of Nazianzen in a Sermon before the Emperour says thus to him The Law of Christ hath committed you to my Charge and to my Pulpit for we rule also and ours is a more excellent and perfect regiment And comparing further the rule of Priests with the rule of Princes Hee cals the one spirituall the other fleshly and concludes that the spirit ought not to give place to the flesh nor heavenly things to earthly What hee meant here by giving place whether hee meant it of externall submission or internall awe I cannot tell but he left it uncertain To the same purpose that of Ambrose tends also Thinke not O Emperour that thou hast any right over divine things for the Palace is for the Emperour but Churches for Priests And that also of Athanasius It s neither lawfull for us to hold a Kingdome upon earth nor hast thou O Emperour power over sacred things Wee see they speake of their Ministery and Ecclesiasticall vocation as of a sovereigntie and rule and that more sacred then that of Princes of which Princes were not worthy or capable And to passe by the blinde times of Popery wherein upon these grounds the Roman Bishops inthralled a great part of Christendome with temporall bondage wee shall finde also that since the abjuration of Romish servitude yet Protestant Ministers themselves have assumed a sanctitie more then is due The Kings Supremacie or Headship over the Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall State Hee being accounted but meerly temporall in comparison of Priests is as ill wished by many Calvinists as by Papists their word is of Secular Princes Istis non competit iste Primatus And as Sir Thomas More suffered death in testimony of his dislike so Calvin himselfe condemnes this Realme of Blasphemy for entitling Henry the Eighth Supreme Head of the Church here under Christ And not only the Name but the power it selfe which wee give to Civill Magistrates he protesteth against as that which had wounded him deeply Princes being made thereby too spirituall hee complaineth that this fault did raigne throughout Germany and in some parts of France to the taking away of Spirituall Regiment whilst Princes were made chiefe Judges as well in matters of doctrine as discipline Hence it is that all which follow Calvin which is almost the generality of Protestants besides Papists hold Princes incompetent for spirituall Regencie accounting the intermedling of Princes therein as an abolition or prophanation of the same And hence it is that our contrary faction of Hierarchists also deny the Kings Supremacie in Spiritualibus though not in Ecclesiasticis and our Prelats Style is providentia divina not gratiâ Regis and as they issue Writs in their own Names so they use their owne armes in their Seales and not the Kings And wee know it was my Lord of Canterburies industry of late to procure a Commission about five yeeres since that all Bishops Courts might proceed without any subordination or dependency to any other of the Kings Courts So that though they complaine of the Presbyterian Discipline and the doctrine of Calvin as injurious to Princes yet they themselves seeme to be of the same confederacie But that I may not seem to misreport or misinterpret any I will cite only two Divines of prime note both defenders of Supremacie Hooker speaking of that dutifull subjection which is due from all Christians to the Pastors of their souls in respect of their sacred Order affirmes that the same is as due from Kings and Princes as from their meanest vassals Reverence due to the Word and Sacraments and to Gods Ordinances is not here meant for that is as due from Priests themselves also as from any other it is meant of reverence due to the persons of Priests this he cals subjection and challenges as due in respect of their sacred Order And so Bilson descanting upon the words of Nazianzen after a comparative manner as Hooker did inferres thereupon that Priests have a greater and perfecter regiment then Princes For sayes he Priests governe the souls of men and dispense the mysteries of God whereas Princes are set to rule the bodies of men and to dispose the things of this life c. Hee does not compare the offices but the Regiments of Priests and Princes and hee averres as confidently that Priests governe the souls and exercise dominion over the spirits of Christians as that Princes have no power at all but over the bodies and temporalities of their Subjects And for these causes the Crosier is generally preferred in Honour and Sanctitie before the Scepter to detect therefore the errour of Divines herein I will now truly produce and throughly poize those arguments which they most rely upon The first argument runs thus Spirituall things are not to be managed and treated but only by spirituall persons but Princes are not spirituall Ergo Wee must first understand here what is meant by spirituall things and spirituall persons If by spirituall things here such things are meant as appertain to

ought to be a great deal lesse and we doe the rather suspect all popish traditions and additions in Religion because wee see they make use of them for the augmenting of the power and regiment of Prelates And yet if knowledge did not abound if our Religion were more cloudie and if the Scriptures Councils Fathers and all learning were now more imperfect to us then they are I cānot imagin how an uncōfined absolute dominion of Churchmen shold be more necessary thē of Princes For if absolutenes of power be of necessary use in intricate perplexed mysteries cōtroversies yet why must that absolute power be more effectuall in Priests then Princes is not the counsel of Prelats the same and of the same vigor to solve doubts and determine controversies whether their power be subordinate or not doth meer power ad to the knowledg of Priests or is the power of Priests more virtuous for the promoting of truth then the power of Magistrates how comes this vast irreconcilable difference betwixt the government of the Church and State In matters of Law in matters of policy in matters of war unlimited power in such as are most knowing and expert does not conduce to the safety of the Common-wealth subordinate Counsells are held as available for the discerning of truth and far more available for the conserving of peace and order And who can then assigne any particular sufficient reason why matters of religion should not as well be determined in the consistory by dependent Prelates as matters of Law are by the Judges and Justices in their tribunals where they sit as meere servants to the King His third exception is That God having armed the Jewish Religion with a temporall sword and the Christian with that of spirituall punishment only the one with power to imprison scourge put to death the other with bare authoritie to censure and excommunicate there is no reason why our Church which hath no visible sword should in regiment be subject unto any other power then only to that which bindeth and looseth This reason taketh it for granted that amongst the Jewes the Church and State was the same had the same body the same head the same sword and that head was temporall and that sword was materiall This we freely accept of but in the next place without any reason at all given it as freely assumes that Christians now have only a spirituall sword in the Church as that Jews had only a temporall one A diametricall opposition is here put betwizt Jews and Christians in Church Regiment and yet no cause shewed or account given of that opposition We have very good colour to argue that without some strong reason shewed of opposition Christians ought not to bee so contrary to that excellent discipline of the Jewes which God himself ordered and to introduce I know not what spirituall rule in prejudice of temporall rule but how will Stapleton prove that amongst Christians the Church and State are two divided bodies so as they may admit of two severall heads and severall swords the one temporall the other spirituall the one yielding precedence as temporall the other predominating as spirituall This wee desire to see fortified with better proofs Hooker in his eighth booke not yet publisht has a learned cleere discourse to shew the fallacie and injustice of this blind presumption Hee allows that a Church is one way and a Commonwealth another way defined and that they are both in nature distinguisht but not in substance perpetually severed Since there is no man sayes hee of the Church of England but the same is a member of the Common-wealth nor any of the Common-wealth but the same is of the Church therefore as in a figure triangle the base differs from the sides and yet one and the self-same line is both a base and a side a side simply a base if it chance to be the bottome and to underlie the rest So though properties and actions of one doe cause the name of a Common-wealth qualities and functions of another sort give the name of a Church to a multitude yet one and the same multiude may be both Thus in England there 's none of one Corporation but hee is of the other also and so it was amongst the Jews Two things cause this errour First because professours of the true Religion somtimes live in subjection under the false so the Jews did in Babylon so the Christians in Rome under Nero in such cases true professors doe civilly only communicate with the State but in matters of their Religion they have a communion amongst themselves This now is not our case and therefore these instances are not proper amongst us Secondly In all States there is a distinction between spirituall and temporall affaires and persons but this proveth no perpetuall necessity of personall separation for the Heathens always had their spiritual Laws and persons and causes severed from their temporall yet this did not make two independent States among them much lesse doth God by revealing true Religion to any Nation distract it thereby into severall independent communities his end is only to institute severall functions of one and the same community Thus farre Hooker most judiciously and profoundly Wee must not here expect any satisfaction from our Adversaries why there should be lesse division betweene Church and State amongst the Jews and lesse use of two severall swords then is amongst us 't is sufficient that they have said it There 's no crime so scandalous amongst our Church-men or wherein they claime so much spirituall interest of jurisdiction as adultery yet amongst the Iews that crime was carnall not spirituall and its punishment was death inflicted by the Civill Judge not damnation denounced by the Priest Now if adultery in these days were better purged away and lesse countenanced in our Christian Courts then it was amongst the Jews there might something be alleaged to preferre our moderne inventions before Gods owne Statutes but when Ecclesiastiall persons shall therefore incroach upon Civill that by I know not what pecuniary corruptions and commutations vice and scandall may abound we doe strangly dote to suffer it For his last reason he says That albeit whilst the Church was restrained into one people it seemed not incommodious to grant their Kings generall chiefty of power yet now the Church having spread it self over all Nations great inconvenience must thereby grow if every Christian King in his severall Territorie should have the like power By this reason it s presumed that all the Universe ought to have but one head on earth and that Rome must be its Court and that it must be indued with Oraculous infallibilitie and so to remayne till the Worlds end and this must bee admitted out of some obscure generall Metaphors in Scripture or else God has not sufficiently provided for the wise government of his Catholike Church Man can scarce imagine any thing more mischievous or impossible then that which these goodly

descendents wheras now no such superiority can have place amongst our Clergie-men Fourthly The Priests and Levites had then offices of a different nature some of them were more easie as to superintend c. others more toylesome as to sacrifice c. some more holy as to offer incense c. others more meane as to slaughter beasts c. and so different orders were accordingly appointed but no such difference of service is amongst our Priests in our Churches I shall adde also fifthly that there were then many Ceremonies and Types and rites of worship about which many differences might arise hardly to be decided without some appointed Iudges whereas now the abolition of those externall rudiments and clogs hath discharged us of all such questions and scruples in the Church And sixthly the whole forme of Religious worship was then externally more majesticall and dreadfull and it was convenient that some correspondence should bee in pomp and splendor between the persons which did officiate and the places wherein they did officiate As there was a Sanctum more inaccessible than the outer Court and a propitiatory more reverend than either and as some Altars and Sacrifices were more solemne and venerable than others so it was fit that persons should bee qualified accordingly with extraordinary honor and priviledge but this reason now ceases amongst us There was no inherent holines in that Temple more than is in ours nor no more internall excellence in those Priests than in ours and yet we see an externall splendour was than thought fit for those times which our Saviour did not seeme to countenance in his Church The same glittering garments are not now usefull for our Priests nor the same sanctimonious forbearance and distance due to our Chancels and for ought we know all other grandour and lustre of riches power and honour falls under the same reason but in the next place our answer is that notwithstanding all these differences which may much more plead for power and preeminence amongst the Iewes than amongst us yet we do allow to our Clergy more power and preeminence than was knowne amongst the Iewes There is no colour in Scripture that there were so many Ecclesiasticall Courts in Iudea so thronged with sutors so pestred with Officers so choaked up with causes of all kinds as matrimoniall testimentary and many the like there is no colour that in so many severall divisions of the Land besides ordinary tithes and indowments they had any Ecclesiasticall Lords to injoy so many severall Castles Palaces Parkes Manors c. They had one Miter we have many They had one Priest richly attired but with Ornaments that were left for the use of successive generations we have many whose bravery is perpetually fresh and various Alexander might perhaps wonder at the sumptuous habit of one of Aarons Successors but if Salomon himselfe should see the Majesticall equipage of diverse of our Arch-Bishops or Cardinals as they passe from one tribunall to an other He would think his own Religion simple and naked to ours Besides though the Iewes had but one High-Priest in whom was concerned all the State and glory of their Clergie yet he also was so farre from clayming any independent power that in the most awfull of Religious affaires as consulting with God receiving the Law building and dedicating the Temple ordering and reforming Priests and their services making Lawes and superintending all holy persons places and things in all these things hee was inferior to the Prince not so much as executing the same by subordination That Scotch Gentleman therefore which undertakes to prove the independent unalterable jurisdiction of Bishops as it s now injoyd and accounted divine in England both from the Law and the Gospell is as much to be applauded for his confidence as for his wit One Argument more is brought by some Papists to the same purpose but it is scarce worth repetition They say Ieremy was but a meane Prophet yet it s written of him that he was appointed over Nations and Kingdomes to pull up to beate downe to despise c. and they inferre that what a Prophet might doe a fortiori a Priest may doe But this is not literally spoken as true of Ieremies own exployts The Prophet was here Gods instrument to foretell and proclaime them but God had other instruments to execute them and those instruments in probability were Princes not Prophets nor Priests Princes Prophets and Priests may all be instruments of God in the same service yet not all serve alike honourably for wee must looke further sometimes than into the meere names of things because some names of service import the nature of command and some names of command import the nature of service The word Nurse expresses something of service but more of power and this is fitly applyed sometimes to Princes for the office of Princes is to serve those who are subject to their power On the other side the word Guide expresses somthing of power but more of service and this may be fitly applyed to Priests and Prophets for their skill may make them serviceable in somethings to those which in others are served by them But I conclude these two first points that there is no priviledge either of Sanctity or Knowledge which can exalt Priests above Princes or intitle them to that spirituall regiment in the Church which they would faine pretend to Further at this time I have not leasure to proceed I must now leave this already spoken and all that which naturally will result from it to the Iudicious FINIS