Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	judge_n	king_n	law_n	5,155	5	5.2571	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10151	The right of Kings conteyning a defence of their supremacy, over all persons and in all causes, as well ecclesiasticall as civill, within their severall dominions : herewithall is proved by testimony of Holy Scripture, that Christian Kinges are to haue such dignity, and execute such office in the Christian church, as Gods kinges had exercised in the church under the lawe : which part of the mysterie of Gods will, as it hath been wickedly under poperie shut up from men, so it is in our tymes right needfull that the same be opened to all Christian nations.	Procter, Thomas.	1621 (1621)	STC 20410; ESTC S1281	21,909	36

their manifold actions both in restoring true Doctrine and ordering the Priests and Levites to their severall offices as also in ordering the divine service and other like plentifully declare What therefore God hath commanded or ordayned whether for matter of faith necessarie to salvation to be beleeved or for matter of Ecclesiasticall government or the like that is the King to see done as well by Priests as People and to punish the negligent for euil doers aswel Priests as others Thus having written of the first things proceed we to the second That Gods word is given to the King as to a Iudge and not as to one who must doe after the judgement of the Priest onely may appeare Psal 82.1 where we thus reade He iudgeth among Gods How long will ye iudge uniustly and accept the persons of the wicked Doe right to the poore and fatherlesse doe iustice to the poore and needie save them from the hands of the wicked Here you see that Princes of whom our Lord testifies as before I have shewen that they are called Gods are also Iudges therefore the word given to them is given to them as Iudges And whereby then should they be directed in their iudging if not by the word given by God unto them The Pope of Rome would have them to reward the good punish evill doers after he and his Cleargy hath judged them good or evill but they are not to bee directed by an others judgment seeing God hath made them Iudges and given them his word to direct their iudgement As therefore their office stretcheth to reforme Doctrine to order Ecclesiasticall Officers to see to their executing their offices according to Gods ordinance to order the Divine worship and to cause people to live as Gods word commandeth for all this did the good Kings in the Church under the Law so they are to Iudge also in all these things what is to be done what not what well what evilly done If any will say that now I sow the seeds of grievous tribulation to Gods Church seeing I make Kings or Princes who are apt to maintain every conceipt of theirs by the sword Iudges of Doctrine Ecclesiasticall offices ordering Divine Service and of Manners then I answer If the Apostle taught this Doctrine of them implied in his declaring that God accepted them for his ministers even whilst as yet they were Infidels would not be directed by the word of God should we deny Kings this power and office when they are Christians Therfore let us in these dayes as the Apostle in those acknowledge unto Princes their Right and Power yea though they execute not their Ministery rightly but persecute rather the Saints and Church of God for it becommeth Christians to acknowledge their right yea when they doe not according to right but are rather enemies as yet and persecuters Let us feare even then to doe evill because if even then they punish us for evill their punishment is Gods seeing they are the Ministers of God But if wee suffer for well doing they being negligent to read the word or to judge us by it let us take to us the comfort of the Apostle Peter where 1. Pet. 2-20 he sayth If when ye doe well ye suffer wrong and take it patiently this is acceptable to God This gracious consolation against the afflictions layd vpon us by misguided or mis-judging Princes should bee our refuge as it was the refuge of Gods Saints in those times of the Apostles Yet here I think fit to put men in minde that wherein Gods word preserved doth not speak for us there we who suffer beare our owne burthen and hurt for wee ought to preferre the judgement of Gods Iudges before ours though we preferre justly Gods word it selfe to their erring in the use made of it For Gods word which is plaine or indeed truely collected let us suffer if our Kings erring will persecute us for our faith and ordering of things according thereto but let us not suffer for maintenance of our owne judgment onely opposed to the iudgement of Gods Minister True it is that Kings and Princes may and in fact have erred and this also in things wherein they think themselves free to doe with their owne what they will therfore Princes may doe well in such things to admit of wholesome counsell rather then to goe on in doing evill through error Some Princes thinking themselves free to Honour Priests as they will have in way of honour to them left all iudging of Doctrines of faith and all ordering of Ecclesiasticall matters to them onely not daring to bee themselves Iudges in these things but such honouring is not acceptable to God seeing themselves neglect the office of Iudging which God hath intrusted to them as well as to Priests Others have in way of Honour freed the Cleargie from being subiect to be judged and punished by themselues unlesse by the Pope or other chiefe among the Cleargie they bee given up to the secular power but this kind of honouring also is evill inasmuch as Princes exercise not that power and authoritie to judge and punish the Cleargie for evill doing as Gods Kings in the Church under the Law did Others againe by way of honour to Priests have imployed them so in civill Courts of Iustice as that they have not yea have not been able thenceforth to performe the true duties of the Bishops office but haue left the same to the performance of others substituted under them but this kinde of honouring also is evill inasmuch as Gods Ministers of his word who should be diligent Preachers of the same content themselves to busie themselves in civill judgements and to preach the word once in a Lent time onely or upon some solemne time onely Others againe as for a greater honour to Bishops have made them Ministers of the Sword but God having appointed Kings for the ministration of the Sword the other Ministers must not be ministers thereof for God having put a difference between Ordinance and Ordinance Office and Office Power and power appointing one to one Minister the other to another Minister what is it but a confusion and an inversion of the ordinance of God to make one Minister Minister of both It hath been an evill collection made by some that what Gods Priests under the Law did that the Ministers of the Gospell may doe even as Kings under the Gospell may doe what Gods Kings under the Law did for the Ordinance of God concerning the Ministers under the gospell permits us not to make such collection concerning Priests and their imployment and actions In all these things Princes have erred and easily may againe erre to the great hurt of the Church of God and inversion of his holy Ordinances therfore if they suffer wholsome advice counsel in such things they shall the better please God by a true ministration of their office Surely whatsoever Princes doe to Bishops or Priests which necessarily occasions their not

THE RIGHT OF KINGS CONTEYNING A DEFENCE OF THEIR SUpremacy over all persons and in all causes aswell ecclesiasticall as civill within their severall Dominions HEREWITHALL IS PROVED BY TESTIMONY of Holy Scripture That Christian Kinges are to haue such Dignity and execute such Office in the Christian Church as Gods Kinges had and exercised in the Church under the Lawe WHICH PART OF THE MYSTERIE of Gods Will as it hath been wickedly under Poperie shut up from Men so it is in our tymes right needfull that the same be opened to all Christian Nations Rom. 13.1 Let every soule be subiect to the Higher Powers Printed 1621. The epistle to the Reader WHo that considers the evills done unto the Sonne of God by Kings Who that considers that most cruel persecution of the Church by Kings in the primitive tymes this also for about three hundred yeares of continuance yea who that considers the Churches persecution by Kings in these last tymes wherein our Princes being miss-led by the delusions of the Romane Bishop haue persecuted them who suffered their faith and service of God to be instructed and ordered by the word of God who I say that considers these things would not expect that the Lord even our most blessed God should utterly reject them denying them any dignity or office in his Church upon earth But the Lord of Lords and King of Kings Righteous beyond our apprehension and mercifull beyond all expectation hath contrarywise reveiled from heaven by his word and witnessed unto it with miraculous power that the Kings among the Nations of the Gentiles are accepted by him for his Ministers unto whom as unto Kings allowed by God all Christians must be subiect By how much the lesse therefore their desert hath been by so much the more is this Grace of God to be magnified By how much the lesse their desert of this grace hath been by so much the more are they bound to attend diligently to the due execution of the will of God Is it not sufficient that Kings being miss-lead partly by Heathenisme before their conversion to Christianity partly by Poperie after their conversion haue heretofore bloudily persecuted and slaine those who haue yeilded obedience to the word of God Shall the Saints euen to this day also be butchered by their power when the Lord is so gratious as to mainteyne the right of Kings will not they doe right to the children of God how long shall a falfe word misslead the most of them how long will they be before they by the light of the word of God discerne the Lords sheepe from others Blessed be God who hath opened the eyes of many of them and moved their harts to be Protectors of his flock His Flock are those who if not fully yet most neerely conforme their faith their life and conversation to the reveiled will of God as it is preserved in the sacred scriptures As therefore the Lord is mercifull to Kings so ought they in duety to God by the word of God in scripture to discerne and discerning to protect the people of the Lord. Much of the Lords people are miss-lead by Teachers who teach evilly in some things and hardly finde we any wholly conformable to the instruction of the Lords word in Scripture but yet difference is to be put betweene those who in the greatest part obey the word of the Lord those who in the greatest part walk in disobedience And my hope is that as by this Treatise I move Gods people to consider advisedly the great Dignity and Office of Princes so Princes will be gratious to those who most neerely Beleeve and live as becommeth Saints Neyther would I haue my Reader here to expect that I would iudge who or who are lawfully Kings but onely that these who are Kinges by the permission and grace of God may be put in minde of their Dignity and Office in the Church be also obeyed by those of the Church as God by his instruction reveiled to the Church gives direction This is the end of my writing this following Treatise this the aime of my heart which having now showen in this epistle I think fit to put an end to the same and to proceed to the Treatise it selfe Yours in the Lord Thomas Proctor A TREATISE OF SUPREMACY Wherein is proved by testimony of sacred Scripture that Kings or independant civill powers or States are by Gods Ordinance to be supreame Governours over all persons and in all causes aswell ecclesiasticall as Civill within their severall Dominions IT hath been of long time and in too many Nations of Christendome still is an errour of no small importance to think That Kinges are not to judge in things perteyning to the Church of God nor to order the offices and affaires of the Church nor to governe over all ecclesiasticall persons within their severall kingdomes or Dominions From which errours possessing the mindes alwell of Princes as of private persons strange troubles haue arisen to the church of God both Princes and private persons mistaking their dueties and so Princes not doing in the church what God appoints them others and even of their subjects haue been scourges unto them by practising against them things farre differing from the teaching of Christian Religion Alas how much innocent blond haue Princes shed whilst guided by a false word of the Romane Bishop they haue neglected to meditate in the word of God and to Iudge and Governe according to its directions and so haue butchered the Saincts of God in all Nations and on the cōtrary haue exalted them who most haue troden under foote the sacred word and ordinances of the living God What should therefore be more deare to Princes then to know the dignity and true office wherein God by his Ordinance hath set them Or what greater honour can be done them then when some wicked Bishop would depresse their right herein God by his word declares his wickedness and by his strange and mervailous Acts in our times raiseth his Princes will or nill that Bishop and all his Adherents to their true dignity and office in the Church Verily we see in these times how God tendereth the rights of Christian Princes when under the Reformation as he on the one hand hath freed them frō the usurpations and bondage of the Romane Bishop so on the other hand he hath preserved their right against all who under any pretences whatsoever haue indeavoured to deprive them thereof It is therefore dangerous for any aswel for Princes as for people to doe oughts against the will of God as he hath revealed the same by his word preserved in scripture True it is that many are not suffered to be informed hereof because by such information that Bishop of Romes delusions and his insufferable abusions would be discovered But fitter it is that Princes know their Right and people their dueties then that the consciences of both being missinformed they be led thereby into the

doing the proper Duties of their Episcopall or Priestly Ministration or which occasions their over seldome or negligent doing the same that is ill done by Princes and God will visit them both for drawing his Ministers of the word from performing their proper duties of such Ministration and also for suffering unpunished any such omission or neglect of these duties These things I thought good here to touch at because it might occasion our Princes to hold Gods Priests to the duties proper to their Ministration and to punish in them any omission or over negligent performance of the same But now to conclude this poynt Princes are not barely as executioners to reward the good and punish evill doers but they are costituted also Iudges by the Lord that they also may iudge in all things to which the word already revealed from God stretcheth And verily even the Ministers of the word already revealed are preaching the same to them to preach as to Gods Iudges of doctrine preached Not that they are all alike capable of iudgement in such things but that this is the right of their office which also for conscience towards God must be had in Reverence Thus have I proved that Kings under the Gospell are to exercise such Dignitie and Ministration as with Gods blessed approbation we find in Scripture that Gods Kings exercised under the Law As therfore under the Law the King was over the Church in the Nation of the Iewes as Moses sayd If thou say I wil set a King over mee c. which manner Supremacie the Kings under the Law did in fact exercise and hold And as under the Law the Kinges did not onely reward the good and punish the evill but did also Iudge of good and evill by the direction of the word given him restoring pure Doctrine and setting the Priests and Levits to their due offices and ordering the Divine Service so are the Kings under the Gospell likewise to doe being over the Church in their severall Dominions and iudging of what is good and evill by the word of God in Scripture and restoring Religion setting the Cleargy to their due offices and ordering the Divine Service in the Church Wherin though they are not to neglect not the advice onely but authority also of the Bishops and Priests yet they are not to take for their direction whatsoever they shall advise and presse but they ought themselves to read and meditate in the word of God and to judge by it of that advised and urged by the Bishops These things concerning the Supremacy and Government of Kings I have here pressed upon the observation of Princes partly to stirre them up to mind their owne Authority in the Church partly to instruct all Christian Subiects what to beleeve concerning their dutie toward Princes but now having this done I think it fit to answer in the next place one or two obiections which either are or may peradventure be made against this which formerly I have written The first obiection AGainst the Supremacy of Kings and their judging in all causes and governing ouer all persons within their severall Dominions it commonly heretofore hath been and to this day is alleadged That our Lord committed unto Peter to be continued in his Successors the Supreame vicariate power of governing the Church for ever This opinion they fortifie partly by Scripture partly by Tradition partly by the sayings of Doctors of great authoritie in the Church The Scriptures which they commonly make use of are first Math. 16.18 where the Lord sayd thus unto Peter I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it Secondly Iohn 21.15 where againe the Lord sayd thus unto the same Apostle Simon the sonne of Iona lovest thou mee He sayd unto Him Yea Lord Thou knowest that I love Thee Hee sayd unto him Feed my Lambs He sayd unto him againe the second time Simon the sonne of Iona lovest thou me he sayd unto Him Yea Lord thou knowest that I loue thee He sayd unto him Feed my Sheepe Hee sayd unto him the third time Simon the sonne of Iona lovest thou me Peter was sorie because he sayd unto him the third time lovest thou me and he sayd unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Iesus sayd unto him Feed my Sheep From both these Scriptures they collect that the Apostle Peter should feed all the Lords sheep for ever both with Doctrine and Government therefore all the Lords sheep must receive from this Apostle their Doctrine and Powers or Offices that so they may be built upon the Rock of this Apostles approbation or allowance And because the Apostle was to doe this for ever therefore after his death this must bee done by his Successors the Popes of Rome Hence it is that they seeke the Popes approbation of all Doctrines and receive their Episcopall authoritie from him yea Kings also receive kingdomes of him But now I will in the next place discover the fallacy of this collection shewing that these Scriptures are not so to be understood neither do intend any such matter And I think fit to write first of the latter Scripture because the false use made thereof being discovered it will the more easily appeare that they make a false use of the first Scripture also If from the Lords words in saying to Peter Feed my Lambs feed my sheep it be collected that Peter must feed all Christs sheep and this also both with Doctrine and Government then it followes that the rest of the Apostles as well as any other must be thus fed by Peter seeing they also are a part of the Lords sheep but seeing feeding is taken in matter of Doctrine for the receiving of doctrine from him or grounded upon the authoritie of his approbation and seeing feeding in matter of Government is taken for a bearing rule over all Christs sheep and that all Powers or Offices Ecclesiasticall and civill are to be derived from him or grounded upon the authoritie of his approbation therefore I am to prove by testimonies of holy Scripture that we are not thus to understand the Lord in this speech of his For matter of Doctrine it is well knowen that the rest of the Apostles received not their Doctrine from Peter but from the Lord Christ even as Peter himselfe did neither were they to ground or build that upon the authoritie of Peters approbation which they received immediatly from the Lord therfore I conclude that the rest of the Apostles were not fed by Peter in matter of Doctrine Moreover the Apostle Paul Galat. 1.11 testifies saying I certifie you brethren that the Gospell which was preached of me was not after man for neither received I it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Iesus Christ. By this testimonie it is plaine that the Apostle Peter fed not the Apostle Paul with Doctrine but rather