Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	member_n	pastor_n	1,299	5	9.4696	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77236	Several treatises of vvorship & ceremonies, by the Reverend Mr. William Bradshaw, one of the first Fellows of Sydney Colledge in Cambridge; afterward minister of Chattam in Kent, 1601. Known by his learned treatise De justificatione. 1. A consideration of certain positions archiepiscopal. 2. A treatise of divine worship, tending to prove the ceremonies, imposed on the ministers of the Gospel in England, in present controversie, are in their use unlawful. Printed 1604. 3. A treatise of the nature and use of things indifferent. 1605. 4. English Puritanism, containing the main opinions of the ridgedest sort of those called Puritans in the realm of England. 1604. 5. Twelve general arguments, proving the ceremonies unlawful. 1605. 6. A proposition concerning kneeling in the very act of receiving, 1605. 7. A protestation of the Kings supremacy, made in the name of the afflicted ministers, and oposed to the shameful calumniations of the prelates. 1605. 8. A short treatise of the cross in baptism.	Bradshaw, William, 1571-1618.	1660 (1660)	Wing B4161; Thomason E1044_5; ESTC R20875	92,680	129

shall abuse it upon the Supream Majesty himself 18. If the King subjecting himself to spiritual Guides and Governours shall afterwards refuse to be guided and governed by them according to the Word of God and living in notorious sin without Repentance shall wilfully contemn and despise all their holy and religious Censures that then these Governours are to refuse to administer the holy things of God unto him and to leave him to himself and to the secret Judgement of God wholly to resign and give over that spiritual charge and tuition over him which by calling from God and the King they did undertake And more then this they may not do And after all this We hold that he yet still retaineth and ought to retain intirely and solidly all that aforesaid supream power and Authority over the Churches of this Dominion in as ample a manner as if he were the most Christian Prince in the World 19. We acknowledge King JAMES to be our onely lawful Sovereign and unto him to be due all the aforesaid Supremacy and we renounce and abjure all Opinions Doctrines Practises whatsoever repugnant or contrary to the same as Anabaptistical and Antichristian and wish they may be severely punished 20. We never refused Obedience to any Lawes or Commandements of the King or State whatsoever but onely to such as we have proved or are ready to prove if we might be heard with indifferency to be contrary to the Word of God And we are ready to take our Solemn Oathes before the Throne of Justice that the onely cause of our refusal of Obedience to those Canons of the Prelates for which we are at present so extreamly afflicted is meere Conscience and a fear to sin against God And that if by due form of reasoning we may be convinced in our Consciences of the contrary we are as willing as any Subjects in the Realm to Obey and Conform 21. We refuse Obedience onely to such Canons as require the performance of such Acts and Rites of Religion as are rejected and abandoned of all other Reformed Churches as Superstitious Disorders Such as are special Mysteries of the Romish Antichristian Idolatry Such as have been controverted in the Church ever since the last breaking forth of the Light of the Gospel out of the cloud of Popery in Luthers time Such as all Protestant Writers and Defenders of our Faith beyond the Seas and most of our own Country men have either in general or particular condemned as vain idle and unprofitable Such as all the Faithful and Painful Pastors of this Realm and in a manner all States and degrees of the same would be content were removed and swept out of the Church and for which few or none are zealous but the Prelates and their Adherents 22. We deny no Authority to the King in matters Ecclesiastical but onely that which Christ Jesus the onely Head of the Church hath directly and precisely appropriated unto himself and hath denyed to communicate to any other creature or creatures in the World For we hold That Christ alone is the Doctor of the Church in matters of Religon and that the Word of Christ which he hath given unto his Church is of absolute perfection containing in it all parts of the true Religion both for Substance and Ceremony and a perfect direction in all Ecclesiastical matters whatsoever Unto and from which it is not lawful for any Man or Angel to add or detract 23. We are so far from making claim of any supremacy unto our selves and those Ecclesiastical Officers which we desire that we exclude from our selves and them as that of which we are utterly uncapable all Princely and Lordly state pompe and power whatsoever holding it a sin for any whosoever to exercise no not by commission from the Magistrate any Authority over the Body Goods Lives Liberty of any Man whosoever for any crime or offence whatsoever So that any one of the basest and most inferiour civil officers in a Kingdom hath and ought to have in our Judgement more Authority and Power over men then any or all the Ecclesiastical Officers in the same Kingdom or in the whole World Yea we hold that the highest Ecclesiastical Officer in the Church ought to be as subject unto the basest civil officers in the Kingdom as the meanest Subject in the Kingdom And that they ought not by virtue of their office to challenge any freedom or immunity at all from any Civil Subjection whatsoever belonging to any common Subject 24. We confine and bound all Ecclesiastical power within the limits onely of one particular Congregation holding that the greatest Ecclesiastical power ought not to stretch beyond the same And that it is an arrogating of Princely Supremacy for any Ecclesiastical person or Persons whosoever to take upon themselves Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over many Churches much more over whole Kingdomes and Provinces of Christians 25. We hold it utterly unlawful for any one Minister to take upon himself or accept of a sole Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over so much as one Congregation And therefore we hold that some of the sufficientest and most honest and godly men in the Congregation ought to be chosen by the Heads of Families to be adjoyned in Commission as assistants to the Minister in the spiritual Regiment of the souls of that Congregation of which he is the pastor 26. We hold that these Ecclesiastical Officers being so chosen by the Church or Congregation are to exercise over the said Congregation only a Spiritual Iurisdiction and power consisting in a carefull oversight of the outward behaviour of the Members of their Church That it be not scandalous offensive and unbeseeming Christians And if any Member shall be delinquent they are brotherly to admonish him shewing him the nature of his crime by the word of God And if after two or three admonitions he shew no tokens of sorrow and penitencie then are they to deny unto him the pledges and seales of the Church to wit the Sacraments If this cannot humble him but that he continue obstinate in that sin then they are by the mouth of the Minister in Congregation the whole Church consenting freely thereto denounce him to be no Member of the Kingdom of Heaven and so forbear to have any further charge over him untill God shall work the grace of Repentance in him in this manner they are to proceed against all apparent and Evident crimes only as Murder Adultery Theft Blasphemie Ribaldery Lying Slandering Profanation of the Sabothes contempt of Divine Worship Disobedience to the Civil Magistrate c. Neither ought the extreamest of the Ecclesiastical Censures any whit hinder the course of justice that the Civil Magistrate is to exercise against the same crimes for if a Traytor himself should be penitent the Church ought to forgive him and lovingly to imbrace him as a Son but the Magistrate ought to execute him if he should be obstinate in that crime As the Magistrate ought to cut him off

of sorrow for him they are to denounce him to be as ye● no member of the Kingdom of Heaven and of that Congregation and so are to leave him to God and the King And this is all the Ecclesiastical Authority and Jurisdiction that any spiritual Officers of the Church are to use against any man for the greatest crime that can be committed 10. They hold that the Officers of the Church are not to proceed unto the extreamest Censure against any man without the free consent of the whole Congregation it self 11. They hold that the Minister or any other particular Officer offending is as subject to these Censures as any other of the Congregation 12. They hold that if any Member of the Congregation having committed a scandalous sin shall of himself forsake the Worship of God and the Spiritual Communion with the Church that then the Ecclesiastical Officers have no authority or jurisdiction over him but only the Civil Magistrate and those unto whom he oweth Civil subjection as Parents Masters Landlords c. CHAP. VI. Concerning the Civil Magistrate 1. THey hold that the Civil Magistrate as he is a Civil Magistrate hath and ought to have Supream power over all the Churches within his Dominions in all causes whatsoever and yet they hold that as he is a Christian he is a Member of some one particular Congregation and ought to be as subject to the spiritual Regiment thereof prescribed by Christ in his Word as the meanest subject in the Kingdom and they hold that this Subjection is no more derogatory to his Supremacy than the Subjection of his body in sickness to Physitians can be said to be derogatory thereunto 2. They hold that those Civill Magistrates are the greatest Enemies to their own Supremacie that in whole or in part communicate the virtue and power thereof to any Ecclesiastical Officers And that there cannot be imagined by the wit of man a more direct means to check-mate the same than to make them Lords and Princes upon Earth to invest them with Civil Jurisdiction and Authority and to conform the state and limits of the Jurisdiction to the State of Kings and bounds of Kingdoms 3. They hold that there should be no Ecclesiastical Officer in the Church so high but that he ought to be subject unto and punishable by the meanest Civil Officer in a Kingdom City or Town not only for common crimes but even for the abuse of their Ecclesiastical Offices yea they hold that they ought to be more punishable than any other Subject whatsoever if they shall offend against either Civil or Ecclesiastical Laws 4. They hold that the Civil Magistrate is to punish with all severity the Ecclesiastical Officers of Churches if they shall intrude upon the rights and prerogatives of the Civil Authority and Magistracy and shall pass those bounds and limits that Christ hath prescribed unto them in his Word 5. They hold that the Pope is that Antichrist and therefore that Antichrist because being but an Ecclesiastical Officer he doth in the height of the pride of his heart make claim unto and usurp the Supremacy of the Kings and Civil Rulers of the Earth And they hold that all defenders of the Popish Faith all endeavours of reconcilement with that Church all plotters for tolleration of the Popish Religion all countenancers and maintainers of Seminary Priests and professed Catholicks and all deniers that the Pope is that Antichrist are secret enemies to the Kings Supremacy 6. They hold that all Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Officials c. have their Offices and Functions only by will and pleasure of the King and Civil States of this Realm and they hold that whosoever holdeth that the King may not without sin remove these Offices out of the Church and dispose of their Temporalities and maintenance according to his own pleasure or that these Offices are Jure Divino and not only or meerly Jure humano That all such deny a principal part of the Kings Supremacy 7. They hold that not one of these Opinions can be proved to be contrary to the Word of God and that if they might have leave that they are able to answer all that hath been written against any one of them FINIS TWELVE General Arguments Proving that the CEREMONIES Imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel in England by our Prelates are unlawful And therefore That the Ministers of the Gospel for the bare and sole omission of them in Churh-Service for conscience sake are most unjustly charged of disloyalty to His MAJESTIE Mat. 18.23 If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evill but if I have spoken well why smitest thou me Printed in the Year 1660. To the Reader GOod Reader We come not as voluntaries into this field of Contention but dragg'd into it by the very hairs of our head If our cause be righteous and good Thou wilt easily grant in so great Imputations and Extremities inflicted upon us for the same that we can do no less than give reasons for our selves and it All the favour I require of thee is That thou wouldst look into our cause not by the flashing lighting 's that come out of the mouths of our Adversaries the Prelates but by the light of our own Reasons by which if thou shalt see the goodness of our cause and innocency of our persons than embrace it with us and in pity pray for us that without shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience we may endure patiently and meekly whatsoever God shall suffer to be inflicted upon us for the same in these wicked and licentious times THE FIRST ARGUMENT All Will-Worship is sin To use these Ceremonies in Church-Service in manner and form prescribed is a Will-Worship Ergo To use them is sin THE Proposition cannot be denied for the Apostle Paul plainly condemneth Will-Worship The Assumption may thus be proved All parts of Divine Service and Worship imposed only by the will and pleasure of Man upon the Ministers of Divine Service and that of necessity to be done is Will-Worship But to use these Ceremonies in manner and form prescribed is to use such Ceremonies as are 1. Parts of Divine Service and Worship 2. Imposed only by the pleasure and will of Men upon the Ministers of Divine Service 3. Of necessity to be done therein Ergo To use these Ceremonies in manner and form prescribed is a Will-Worship The Proposition is as clear as the Sun at noon-day The Assumption hath three parts 1. That they are parts of Divine Worship and Service This is proved evidently by this Argument All Mystical and Ecclesiastical Rites and formes of Divine Service instituted by Ecclesiastical authority to be Ministerial actions in the solemn Worship of God and performed in that manner and having that use in Divine Service that if God should but ratifie and confirm the same use they should then be parts of his true Worship I say all such Ceremonies are used as parts of Divine Worship But these Ceremonies

that is to pray in the Church to put upon himself a white linen Garment The second part of the Assumption is this That they are injoined as more necessary for Christians to do than those Actions that by the Word of God are necessary to Salvation Which I prove by this collection of Reasons 1. If the whole Solemn Worship and Mystery of Jesus must stoop and yield to these And these must not stoop or yield to them 2. If those that will yield to these are dispensed with for omission of some duties that God requires of the Minister to be performed as necessary to Salvation and those that are willing to do all necessary Services tending to the Salvation of Man cannot be dispensed with for the omission of these but must be turned out of Christs Service 3. If those that refuse only conformity to these are worse than Idolatrous Papists 4. If the bare omission of these though upon tenderness of conscience be Sedition Schisme Disloyalty Rebellion a denial of the Kings Supremacy Anabaptistry Frenzy worthy imprisonment Banishment losse of Goods and Living 5. If all that professe these to be unlawfull are to be delivered up to Sathan and anathematized as men holding wicked and damnable Errours 6. If a man being in that Church ought not to be of it where these Ceremonies are omitted 7. If the bare omission of these wake a Minister by our Law more subject to deprivation and suspension than the commission of the foulest Crimes even Drunkenness Blasphemy gross Ignorance uncleanness 8. If her late Excellent Ma. Religion consisted in these I say If all these Assertions be true then are they enjoined as more necessary to be done then those Actions that by the Word of God are necessary to Salvation But all these Eight points are to be justified Ergo These Ceremonies are enjoyned as more necessary to be done than some Actions that are necessary to Salvation The Proposition cannot be gainsayed It being a Topick Axiom Cujus privatio est deterior illud ipsum est melius to wit The worse the Privation of a thing is the better the thing is For Example If blindness be worse than deafnesse Then is the positive habit of seeing better than that of hearing So if Non-conformity be worse than Drunkennesse Blasphemy Idolatry Filthiness of Body c. It must needs follow that Conformity is a more excellent thing in it self than Sobriety the true Worship of God the glorifying of the name of God than a chaste and honest life But all these are urged by the Word of God as necessary means to Salvation For the Holy Ghost saith No Murderer Adulterer Unclean person Idolater c. shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven If therefore Conformity be more urged by our Lawes than these and the Privation more punished If this be more strictly required of Christians yea of principal Christians even the Ministers of the Word than the other they must needs be urged more necessary to Salvation than the other For of the more excellency a Christian vertue is the more necessary to Salvation it is The Assumption in every part and parcel thereof may be justified by the practice and Assertions of our Adversaries not only privately but in publick For the 1. God must not by Canon be Worshipped solemnly in England except these be mingled with it though without them he might be never so well worshipped For the 2. Those that yield to these need not preach at all in our Church except they will No nor to do any other part of Divine Service in their own person if they will maintain a Curate that will keep the Ceremonial Law and fairly re●d or sing the Kings Service as they call it And yet if Preaching were not necessary to Salvation Paul that was above an Archbishop should not have been under a woe if he had not done it For no Minister of the Gospel is under a woe that performeth all services to the Churches of God that are necessary to Salvation Neither was Pauls Preaching a Reading of Homilies or of a Service Book For the 3. Nothing is more notorious then for us that make scruple of these things to be reputed worse than Papists One that is a great Judge in these causes Ecclesiastical affirmed it unto my self Another openly at Pauls Crosse in mine own hearing made no doubt but the Papists were in the Church but he made great doubt whether the Puritanes were And yet we are Puritanes for nothing else but for refusing Conformity to their Ceremonies For howsoever they slander us with many other gross imputations yet they cannot lay any thing to our charge but our conscience in this For all other matters concerning their own Estates and Dignities considering how desperate they are and unreformable we can be content to leave them to the Judgment of God who as it seems intendeth to glorifie himself by some other means than by their Conversion For the 4. Read Scottish Genevat The Survey Remonstrance c. And ye shall finde all this laid to their Charge Also their practice sufficiently proveth it for the Ministers that are of late suspended and deprived only refusing to use these Ceremonies bear their condemnation under these Names and Titles The 5. and 6. is proved by their own late Canons For if they be to be excommunicated ipso facto as holding damnable and wicked Errours that shall Profess any of these Ceremonies to be unlawfull a man ought not to acknowledge himself a member of any such Church as doth affectedly cast them out of Gods worship For for what Error a particular person is not to be reputed as a member of the Church but as a Heathen and Publican for the same a whole Church is not to be reputed a Church but a Synagogue of Satan The 7. may be justified by many Instances of many vile and impious persons of those kindes tolerated in the Ministry The 8. is proved by him that answers the Plea of the Innocent who saith That they that call in question the lawfulness of these Ceremonies call in question her late Majesties Religion which they could not do except at the least part of her Religion consisted in them Further If this doth not sufficiently prove the main Assumption let these Reasons following be wayed 1. If the Church be necessary to Salvation and if the Pillars of the Church be necessary to the Church and if the Lord Bishops be the Pillars of the Church and these or such like Cermonies be the main Supporters of Lord Bishops then are these Ceremonies in the judgment of the Prelates necessary to Salvation For no Church no Salvation no Pillar of the Church no Church No L. Bishop no Pillar of the Church No Ceremony no Lord Bishop Ergo No Ceremony of this kinde no Salvation 2. All Divine Constitutions binding conscience are necessary to Salvation But by the late Doctrine of the Prelates and others these Ceremonies being not unlawfull when they are