Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	angel_n	bishop_n	ephesus_n	3,413	5	11.4256	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64635	Certain discourses, viz. of Babylon (Rev. 18. 4.) being the present See of Rome (with a sermon of Bishop Bedels upon the same words) of laying on of hands (Heb. 6. 2.) to be an ordained ministry, of the old form of words in ordination, of a set form of prayer : each being the judgment of the late Arch-bishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland / published and enlarged by Nicholas Bernard ... : unto which is added a character of Bishop Bedel, and an answer to Mr. Pierces fifth letter concerning the late Primate.	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Bedell, William, 1571-1642.; Bernard, Nicholas, d. 1661.	1659 (1659)	Wing U161; ESTC R10033	109,687	392

manifold grace or gift of God by the divers sorts of them to be administred food clothing relieving of the sick c. according as they are distinctly remembred at the last day Matth. 25. And are not all bountiful charitable persons the Lords Stewards in dispensing these things to those of his houshold of Faith so that upon these considerations the place appears to to be farre off from any application of it to Preaching Indeed the next verse may be so meant If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God c. but yet to be understood with this limitation viz. of a man ordained and constituted as we have said for that end In a word to allow all sorts of men to be preachers is to make the whole body an eye a tongue c. and if so as the Apostle saith where is the hearing are all teachers are all interpreters 't is an argument from the absurdity as if ye would expect the foot to see the hand to speak In Saint Pauls dayes it was said Who is sufficient for these things and shall all persons think themselves so now Saint Paul bids Timothy give himself wholly to it i. e. to meditation study reading and not to intangle himself with the things of this world which might take him off and may they now meet in tradesmen and manufactures and the office be performed without either Is there not a distinction made between the Church of Ephesus and the elders of it Acts 20. between the Church and the Angel of it Revel 2. which if it be not meant of one person the Bishop as Ignatius stiles him so about twelve years after which was the judgement of the Primate yet must at least be collectively meant of the Bishop the Ministery of it Is there not a distinction between the Saints of Philippi the Bishops Deacons are there not some said to be over the Thessalonians in the Lord and preaching admonishing called in special their work as appropriated to them for which he chargeth them to know them to esteem highly of them as the like in his last charge to the Church of the Hebrews cap. ult 7. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you in the Lord and that watch for your soules as they that must give an accompt and if that were the speciall office of the ministery then to have curam animarum why not now or where doth it appear the term is expired I conclude this point with an observation of the several steps of our declinings or defections of later yeares First we were offended at some titles of the Ministery then at the office it selfe First at such a Ministery so ordained then at the ordaining of any Ministery at all First the solemn Assemblies in publick were forsaken and a retreat made into corners then the Preachers themselves slighted called by Solomon the Masters of Assemblies First a ceremony in baptizing of Infants scrupled at then the Baptisme of Infants themselves nay the Sacrament of Baptisme by water called into question also First the Communion forborne out of offence to some gesture now the Sacrament it selfe neglected and contemned as if we may now live above and without Ordinances without any ordained Ministry to administer each as indeed the one must follow the other This is the train laid to blow us up what Iacob said after Ioseph was lost and Benjamin must go too All these things are against me may be our application for the Church If any thirty years agone should have foretold that this Garden of God should have brought forth these weeds that such Tenents should have so prevailed among us he would have been by the most religious persons of that age taken for one that dreamed and they ready to have answered for their Mother-Church as Hazael did for himself when the Prophet told him what evill he should be the Authour of Let us be of moderate spirits and not run beyond the bounds of any president in the Primitive times walk not in wayes not cast up Jerem. 6. 16. enquire for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein be not like those in the next words that said we will not walk in them but in new ones according to your own fancies Let the Tribe of Levi be purged but let not the physick be so strong as to destroy them Saint Paul magnified his own office this is but to support it from being trodden under feet and the end is your good that in these distracted times ye might not be without leaders so ordained and fitted to guide your feet in the way of peace and so much for the first A necessity of an ordained Ministery Now the second observation is that Ordination is not onely an internal Call of God but an external of man for so 't is denominated by that very act laying on of hands i. e. implying the hand of God is not all in the holy frame of the heart of the person by his spirit requisite in every true believer but there must be the hands of men in the designation of him in his name also The first was wont to be asked the person ordained viz. Whether in his heart or conscience he found himself truly called to the Ministry according to the will of our Lord Iesus Christ. This perswasion of his gave a capacity but the authority actually conferred on him was by the imposition of hands Ability and faithfulnesse were the qualifications but the commission to officiate was transferred to Timothy 2 Eph. 2. 2. by that means Ye know those two memento's of Saint Paul to him Neglect not the gift 1 Tim. 4. 14. Stirre up the gift of God which is in thee 2 Tim. 1. 16. by the laying on of my hands and of the hands of the Presbytery if it should be asked What is here meant by the gift I conceive there is no necessity of understanding it either of gifts of ability or saving gifts of the Spirit for as the former doubtlesse were found in Timothy before his ordination and the latter from his childhood education 2 Epist. cap. 3. 15. cap. 1. 5. so 't is a doubt if it were in the power of Timothy to transferre either of those by this means they being to be left to Christ himself who enlightens every man that cometh into the world and to that holy Spirit who blowes when and where it listeth but the surest sence is to take it for the authority given him for the officiating and exercising these abilities and transferring of it unto others And in this sence I grant gifted men may preach and perform other ministerial acts i. e. who with the internall have received this externall power and authority also according to Christs ordinance through imposition of hands Indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken for internall abilities and 't is not improbable but at the solemn meeting of the Church

as to come from the Standard of God to the tents of the Roman Antichrist The heavens shall passe away by a change Rome by a destruction not a change The Honour of the married Clergy Were it not for this opinion i. e. the forbidding it the Church of Rome would want one evident brand of her Antichristianisme Sect. 15. Speaking of a Popish Priest Well doth it become the son of that Babylonish strumpet the lips drenched in the cup of those fornications c. and abundance of the like might be produced Bishop Downham the learned Bishop of Derry in Ireland from whose mouth I have heard sufficiently that way in his book entituled Papa Antichristus is the most large of any we have yet named dividing his discourse into the description of the place and person and the designation of the time out of the 2 Thess. 2. and Revelat. 17. and all directly applyed by him to the See of Rome Bishop Morton that famous and Reverend Bishop of Durham coetaneous with the former and yet living hath much of this in divers parts of his works Bishop Davenant the eminent Bishop of Sarisbury and professor of Divinity at Cambridge hath often declared his judgement accordingly in his Determinations pag. 24. Pontifex Maximus Antichristianam suam superbiam c. audacia plusquam Antichristianâ c. Vniversalem Papae jurisdictionem in totam Ecclesiam non esse jure divino sed usurpatione Antichristiana Bishop Prideaux in his Lectures saith the like often specially in that de Antichristo that he cannot be the Turk but the Pope c Unto which Bishops might be added the votes of many other learned orthodox and Episcopall men whose judgements have been declared accordingly As that learned Professor of Divinity Doctor Samuel Ward in his Lectures and Determinations at Cambridge lately printed specially in those three questions Romana Ecclesia est Idololatrica Apostasia à Paulo praedicta est adimpleta Romana Ecclesia est schismatica i. e. 1. The Roman Church is Idolatrous 2. The Apostasie foretold by Saint Paul is fulfilled 3. The Roman Church is schismaticall Thus concluding in relation to the See of Rome Haec scilicet est illa Babylon quae in corde suo dicit sedeo regina sola sum non est praeter me i. e. This is that Babylon which saith in her heart I sit as a Queen I am only there is none besides me And who knowes not till of later yeares how both the Vniversities in their publick disputations and determinations abounded in their conclusions accordingly I shall only adde the judgement of that meek and judicious man Mr. Hooker see his Treatise of Justification Sect. 10. God hath spoken by his Angel from heaven to his people concerning Babylon by Babylon we understand the Church of Rome Go out of her my people that ye be not partaker of her plagues he expounds the going out of her to be specially meant out of Popish superstitions and heresies calling the maintainers of them Popish Hereticks and by plagues not only temporal but eternal Sect. 20. compares the Pope to Ieroboam Rome to Samaria that played the Harlot c. Sect. 27. speaking of the Bishop of Rome and the Church of Rome addes this As Frenzy though it take away the use of reason doth notwithstanding prove them reasonable creatures which have it because none can be frantick but they so Antichristianity being the bane and plain overthrow of Christianity may nevertheless argue the Church wherein Antichrist sitteth to be christian Sect 57. God did in all ages keep his elect from worshipping the Beast and from receiving his mark in their foreheads he hath and will preserve them from receiving any deadly wound at the hands of the man of sin whose deceit hath prevailed over none unto death but only such as never loved the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thessal 2 Sect. 35. speaking of Christs mercy to the worst of men upon their repentance saith thus if a Pope stripped of usurped power Antichrist converted penitent and lying prostrate at the foot of Christ c. shall I think Christ will spurn at him In his Sermon on Saint Iude Sect. 14. He calls the Pope the man of sin and son of perdition who hath fawned upon the Kings and Princes of the earth and by spiritual cousenage proclaiming sale of Pardons c. hath taken the children of the Noblest families and made them his Cardinals built Seminaries and hereby as at this day the man of sin warres against us c. with the cup of whose deadly abominations this Ierob●am of whom we speak hath made the earth so drunk that it hath reeled under us c. Now of whom the Prophet speaketh this whether of the Bishop of Rome or some other man needs no further resolution and so much for Mr. Hooker And whether or no those of the Remonstrants are of a contrary judgement which some call the Arminian party 't is apparent Arminius himself consented with the aforesaid Bishops and Authours in his 31. Theol. disput intituled Of the Bishop of Rome and of the chief Titles which are attributed unto him Wherein after the rejection of the title given unto him by his favourites as blasphemous and asserting his deserts of others viz. the false Prophet Revel 19. 20. cap. 16. 23. cap. 12. 14. Which did wonders before the beast out of whose mouth three impure spirits came forth The overthrower and destroyer of the Church in matters of faith and worship and raising of divisions between Princes and their subjects S. 12. he asserts the name of Autichrist most evidently to belong unto him for the Apostle gives it unto him 2 Thessal 2. 3 4 5 6 7 8. where he there calls him the man of siu the son of perdition that opposeth and exalts himself above or against all that is called God or worship sitting in the Temple of God and saying he is God who upon the fall of the Roman Empire should rise up in his stead and take his vacant dignity That these saith he are to be understood of the Bishop of Rome and are to be understood of him only we do affirm And for the name of Antichrist that most specially 't is appliable to him whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be understood by way of opposition to Christ a pretended substitution or a subordination in his stead c. Sect. 13. He hath made use of all sorts of instruments hypocrisies lies equivocations treacheries perjuries poison force and armes that he may well be said to have succeeded that beast like to a Leopard a Beare and a Lion Revel 13. 2. by which the Roman Empire is signified whose Image he bare and brought it to passe whosoever would not worship the image of the beast should be put to death c. and concludes with a prayer that God would grant that the Church might be delivered from the fraud and tyranny of Antichrist And so much for

old had under the Law in curing the Lepers who therefore accordingly may be said to forgive and retaine sins whilst they shew and declare they are forgiven or retained of God So the Priests put the name of the Lord upon the children of Israel and were commanded to blesse the people in saying The Lord blesse thee but it was the Lord himself that blessed them according to the next words and I will blesse them And thus in these four things I leave it to be calmly considered of if the Ministers have not power left them by Christ in relation to forgivenesse of sins and with these limitations whether that part of the old form of the words of Ordination might not be continued also which seems to me to be explained in the next following them viz. And be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word and Sacraments c. through both which the graces of the Holy Ghost and remission of sins are conveyed and sealed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost According as in the words at the Communion used to the recipient the former clause was added in Q. Elizabeths dayes to give the more full sense of the latter And let not any by this Moderate expression extenuate the office of the Ministery as Bellarmine would by this inferre that any Lay-man Woman or Child may absolve as well as the Minister as we have among our selves too many of that judgement For it consisteth not in speech but in power or Authority he being as the officer of a King Authorized to make Proclamation of his pleasure Every man may speak one to another to the use of edifying but to them is given 1 Cor. 10. 16. power to edification God hath made them able Ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit That from them it comes 1 Thess. 1. 5. not only in word but in power also and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance which accordingly hath been experimentally found that howsoever another may from the Scripture shew as truly unto the penitent what glad tidings are there intended to him yet to drooping and doubting soules it hath not been so efficacious in quieting them and giving satisfaction to their consciences either in sicknesse death-bed or otherwise as by the Ministery ordained and commissionated for that end That as 't is their office to pray and exhort you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God so having listened to that Motion and submitted your selves accordingly 't is their office to declare and assure unto you in Christs stead that God is reconciled with you All which appeares to be the ancient doctrine of the Church of England by what is publickly declared in the exhortation before the Communion to be read sometimes at the discretion of the Minister which is the recitd and approved by the Primate as followeth And because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Communion but with a full trust in Gods mercy and with a quiet conscience therefore if there be any of you which by meanes aforesaid i. e. Private examination and confession of sinnes to God cannot quiet his own conscience but requireth further Councell and Comfort then let him come to me or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods word and open his grief that he may receive such Ghostly Councel Advice and Comfort as his Conscience may be relieved and that by the Ministery of Gods word he may receive comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and avoyding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse And now let the Reader judge if Dr. Heylene hath not cause to repent of his rash censure of the Primate in his late book p. 108. as if in this part of his Answer to the Jesuite he had as he saith in this particular utterly subverted as well the doctrine of this Church as her purpose in it c. when those two arguments which himself urgeth from the words of Ordination and the exhortation at the communion are produced and defended by the Primate also What would he have he saith the doctrine of the Church of England is that The Priest doth forgive sins authoritativè by a delegated and commissionated power committed to him from our Lord and Saviour doth not the Primate say the same that 't is not only declarativè but designativè not only by way of information out of the word of God as another understanding Christian may do to the penitent that his sins are pardoned but he doth it authoritative as having a power and commission from God to pronounce it to the party and by the seale of the Sacrament to assure the soule of the penitent that he is pardoned of God which no other man or Angel can do ex officio but the Minister of Christ according to that of the Apostle To us is committed the word of re●couciliation this is the summe of the Primates judgement He that would have more must step over into the Church of Rome for it I shall only make a trial whether Doctor Heylene will so conclude against Mr. Hooker as he hath against the Primate who in his sixth book of Ecclesiasticall Policy consents fully with him where after his declaring that for any thing he could ever observe those Formalities which the Church of Rome do so esteem of were not of such estimation nor thought to be of absolute necessity with the Ancient Fathers and that the form with them was with invocation or praying for the penitent that God would be reconciled unto him for which he produceth Leo Ambrose Ierome c. p. 96. He thus declares his judgement viz. As for the Ministerial sentence of private absolution it can be no more then a declaration what God hath done it hath but the force of the Prophet Nathan's absolution God hath taken away thy sins then which construction especially of words judiciall there is nothing more vulgar For example the Publicans are said in the Gospel to have justified God the Iewes in Malachy to have blessed the proud man which sin and prosper not that the one did make God righteous or the other the wicked happy but to blesse to justifie and to absolve are as commonly used for words of judgement or declaration as of true and reall efficacy yea even by the opi●ion of the Master of sentences c. Priests are authorized to loose and bind that is to say declare who are bound and who are loosed c. Saint Ierome also whom the Master of the Sentences alledgeth directly affirmeth That as the Priests of the Law could only discern and neither cause nor remove Leprosies so the Ministers of the Gospel when they retain or remit sinnes do but in the one judge how long we continue guilty and in the other declare when we are clear or free Tom 6. Comment in 16. Mat. So saith Mr. Hooker when conversion by manifest tokens did seem effected Absolution