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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bind_v	earth_n	loose_v	5,255	5	10.5190	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91186	An exact chronological history and full display of popes intollerable usurpations upon the antient just rights, liberties, of the kings, kingdoms, clergy, nobility, commons of England and Ireland	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1666 (1666)	Wing P3962A; ESTC R232177	595,052	408

Jurisdiction do most neglect this most essential prime part of their Commission and relinquish it to inferiour Priests Ministers Curates to whom they deny the power of Jurisdiction The third Commission whereon the Pope and his flatterers principally erect St. Peters and their absolute Ecclesiastical Soveraign Supremacy over all other Apostles Ministers Priests Kings Emperors Kingdoms and Catholick Church on Earth and upon which all Bishops Presbyters Priests do bottom their pretended divine Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over Emperors Kings and all Secular persons as appropriate to their functions consistories and incommunicable to Princes or Laymen is that which was generally given by Christ to all the Apostles yea to private Christians and Lay-men and the whole Church before Christs passion Mat. 18. 18. Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Thus renewed confirmed to all the Apostles by Christ in behalf of the whole Church after his resurrection in other words Jesus breathed on the Disciples and said Receive ye the holy Ghost whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Which Commission though thus twice joyntly given to all the Apostles alike by Christ yet because he first granted this commission to them directing his speech personally to Peter Mat 16. 18 19. I say unto thee thou art Peter c. And I WILL not now do give unto thee the keyes of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven Popes and Popish writers thence conclude St. Peters and others Universal Supremacy over the whole Church and all other Apostles and Bishops whatsoever as well as Kings and Emperors I answer That these Commissions if rightly examined do neither give St. Peter nor his pretended Successors nor any Prelates or Ecclesiastical persons such an inherent Supream Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction distinct from the Regal and Temporal and incommunicable to Lay persons as is pretended For 1. Every particular person though a Lay man or private Christian hath an absolute power yea special command from Christ himself to pardon forgive and remit sins and offences committed against himself as this clause in the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us These precepts When ye pray standing forgive for if ye forgive their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Forgive and you shall be forgiven Forgive one another as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you with other Scriptures demonstrate And as they may thus pardon loose and forgive so they may likewise binde or retain sinnes and trespasses against them when the parties are obstinate and impenitent This is evident by Luke 17. 3 4. If thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him And if he trespasse against thee seven times a day and seven times in a day return unto thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him but not without repentance Compared with 2 Thess 3. 14 15. Rom 16. 17 18. 1 Cor 5. 11 12 13 and Mat 18. 15 16 17. Moreover if thy brother trespasse against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church and if he shall neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee mark it not them as an heathen man and a publican Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven Therefore the self-same Commission Authority of binding and loosing upon earth is given to every private person in this Original Text by Christ as was given to Peter Mat 16. 18 19. and to all the Apostles John 20. 22 23. Hence St. Augustin resolves Cum caepisti habere fratrem tuum tanquam Publicanum Ligis illum in terra cum autem corrigeris concordaveris cum fratre tuo solvisti illum in terra Cum solveris in terra solutus erit in coelo Theophylact is yet more punctual Si tu offensum eum habes eum qui te affecit injuria sicut Publicanum Gentilem erit ille et in coelo talis Si autem solveris eum hoc est si illi condonaveris erit illi et in coelo condonatum Non enim solum quae solvunt Sacerdotes sunt soluta sed quae cunque nos et iniuria assecti vel ligamus vel solvimus et ipsa erum ligata et soluta And if every private person may thus bind and loose as well as Priests as these two Fathers together with Bishop Jewel and others resolve then much more may Kings and Supream temporal Magistrates do it in their Courts and Consistories Our Venerable Beda Peter Lombard Scotus with other Popish School-men yea their Canon Law and Canonists resolve That in the absence or want of a Priest a man may confesse his sins to his coequal or neighbout yea open his daily and lesser sins to his neighbor where there is a Priest and receive absolution from him though a Layman as well as from a Priest And that they may do so even by divine Institution is most fully demonstrated by Jam 5. 16. written to the twelve Tribes scattered abroad who are thus admonished Confesse your faults one to another not to a Pope Bishop Priest and pray for one another that ye may be healed from which Text not only many Antients but most Orthodox Protestant Divines resolve That no privat christian in point of conscience is obliged to confess his sins to a Priest any more then to another private Christian and Laymen no more obliged to confesse their sins to Priests then Priests are to confesse their sins to Laymen and that this text makes the duty of confessing their sins faults one to another reciprocal being coupled with mutual praying for one another the Bishop Priest being bound to pray for the people as well as the people for the Bishop or Priest therefore to confesse unto them as far forth as they are to confesse to him 2ly I answer That the power of binding and loosing retaining and remitting publike or scandalous sinnes is not given to Peter the Apostles Popes Bishops Priests or Ecclesiastical persons as an inherent priviledge and jurisdiction peculiar to them alone but to the whole Church and congregation to whom the right and execution thereof principally appertains This is infallibly

demonstrated by Mat. 18. 17. If he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church or Congregation and if he shall neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee not the Church as an heathen man and a publican This word Church or Congregation is never taken throughout the Scripture for any one particular person whether High Priest Priest Apostle Bishop or Presbyter nor yet for two three or more Apostles Bishops Priests Ministers assembled together without or as contradistinct from the Laity but ever for the whole Church or congregation either as conjoyned with the Apostles Bishops Ministers and sometimes without them for Lay christians alone as severed from their Bishops and Pastors particularly in these signal Texts Acts 15. 3 4 5. And when Paul Barnabas and other of them were come to Jerusalem they were received of the Church and of the Apostles and Elders being brought on their way by the Church And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches Acts 14. 23 27. And when they had ordained them Elders in every Church they commended them to the Lord. And when they were come to Antioch and had gathered the Church together they rehearsed all that God had done with them which Church is stiled the multitude gathered together not Bishops or Priests Acts 15. 30. c. 16. 5. So were the Churches established in the faith c. 20. 17. 28. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church not Elders the Church And then gave them this charge Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church distinguished from the Bishops feeding them which he hath purchased with his own bloud Acts 21. 18 to 25. The day following Faul went in with us to James and all the Elders were present And when he had saluted them they heard his relation and what was reported of him by the Jewish Proselytes they concluded The Multitude or Church must needs come together to hear the businesse put in distinction from Iames and the Elders of the Church at Ierusalem Rom 16. 16. The Churches of Christ salute you Gaius my host and of the whole Church saluteth you Thus the words Church and Churches are used 1 Cor. 1. 2 3. c. 7. 17. c. 11. 16. 18. c. 12. 28. c. 14. 4. 23 33 34. c. 16. 1. 5. 2 Cor 1. 1. c. 8. 18 19 23 24. c. 11. 8. 28. c. 12 13 Gal 1. 19. 22. Ephes 4. 11 13. c. 5. 25 27 32. Col. 4 15. 1 Tim 5. 16. 1 Thess 1. 1. c. 2. 14. c. 5. 27 2. 2 Thess 1. 1 4. 2 Tim. 3. 2 4 5. A Bishop must be one that ruleth his own house well For if he knoweth not how to rule his own house how shall be take care of not rule the Church of God Here put as distinct from him Iam 5. 14. Let him call for the Elders of the Church 1. Iohn 3 v 9 10. I wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the preheminence among them receiveth not us nor the brethren and casteth them our of the Church Rev 1. 20. The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the Candlesticks are the seven Churches distinguished from them Rev 2. 1. 11 c. c 3. 1. 6. 13. 22 c. The Angel of the Church of Ephesus Pergamos and the other 5. Asian Churches interpreted to be the Ministers of Bishops of them are distinguish'd from the people who are stiled alwayes the Church of Ephesus c. but the Angel Bishop or Ministers thereof whether singly or joyntly considered are never once stiled the Church throughout the New Testament or Old Therefore tell the Church never signifies St. Peter or the Pope a single person only and so no Church nor yet the Jewish Sanhedrim as many fancie being never stiled a Church but Councel only in the New Testament and no divine institution but only the particular congregation or Church collectively considered whereof the person offending was a member And if meant of it or of the Jewes Sanhedrim or Councel St. Peter and the Pope with his Conclave of Cardinals being no such Council or Church consisting of the Princes of the Tribes of Israel and 72 Laymen not of Priests alone and no Successors to them by Divine institution the Jewish State Priesthood Church ceremonies being totally abolished by Christ the Pope and other Prelates can pray in no ayde from this much wrested abused mistaken Text to support their pretended Supremacy and divine Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction principally vested in the whole Church which is to rebuke loose seclude retain or absolve penitent or impenitent scandalous sinners as St. Paul himself resolves 1 Cor 5. throughout When ye are gathered together in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such a one to Satan Purge out therefore the old leven that ye may be a new Lump Do not ye judge them that are within Therefore put away from Your selves that wicked person spoken to and of the whole Church of Corinth not to the Ministers of Elders thereof 2 Cor 2. 6 7. Sufficient for such a man is this censure inflicted by many the whole Church not the Apostle Pope Bishop So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up of grief Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him To whom ye forgive any thing I forgive also 2 Thess 3. 14. If any man obey not our Epistle note ye that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed Rom 16. 17. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrines ye have heard and avoyd them 2 Tim 3. 5. From such turn away All directed to the Church Saints Brethren not the Bishops or Ministers of the Church in whom the power of the Keyes of binding and loosing originally resides and in them only ministerially as servants of and to the Church Whence St Augustine thus determines Cum Christus Petro diceret tibi dabo claves Regni caelorum Vniversam significabat Ecclesiam Whereupon in the Primitive Church sinners and penitent persons desired the prayers pardon and absolution of the whole Church and all the Members of it when they were restored to it as Tertullian Origen Bishop Iewel Albispinaeus and others relate 3dly This binding and loosing remitting and retaining sinnes was not by any judicial sentence pronounced by the Apostles in any Consistory Court where they sate as Supream Judges as Popes and other Prelates since have done the Apostles having no such Courts nor exercising such a Soveraign Jurisdiction in them as these since have done for which St Jerom thus sharply reprehends them Istum locum Episcopi Presbyt●ri non intelligentes aliquid sibi de Pharisaeorum assumunt supercilio ut vel damnent innocentes

over them 3ly Christ himself the good Great Chief Shepherd of his sheep informs us that as he himself so every other good shepherd that entreth in by the door doth not only guard but feed his sheep and the sheep hear his voyce and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out and he goeth before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice Every Apostle Bishop Minister of the Gospel is as much a Shepherd of Christs sheep as Peter therefore bound to feed Christs sheep Lambs as much as he This St Ambrose long since asserted Dominus dixit Petro Pasce oves meas Quas oves quem gregem non solum tunc beatus Petrus caepit sed et nobiscum eas succepit et cum illo eas nos suscepinus omnes And St. Basil goes a little further to his Keyes as well as feeding Petre inquit amas me Pasce oves meas consequenter omnibus Pastoribus et Doctoribus eandem potestatem tribuit Cujus signum est Qoud omnes ex aequo obligant et absolvunt quemadmodum ille This Bishop Jewel Dr. Reynolds Dr. Ames Chamier and all Protestant Divines assert and prove at large Yea Pope Anacletus himself resolves Caeteri ve-Apostoli cum eodem Petro pari consortis Honorem et Potestatem acceperunt and that as well the power and honor of the keyes and of binding and loosing which he there relates to as of feeding Christs sheep And St. Cyprian resolved long before him Christus eandem dedit Apostolis omnibus potestatem Hoc utique erant caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio prediti et honoris et potestatis Pastores sunt omnes sed grex unius ostenditur qui ab Apostolis omnibus unanimi consensu pascatur Yea the whole Clergy of Rome writes thus to all the Clergy of Carthage Cum incumbat nobis qui videmur Praepositi esse Vice Pastores custodire Gregem si negligentes inveniamur dicetur nobis quod antecessoribus nostris dictum est qui tam negligentes praepositi erant Quoniam c. Ezech 34. 2 3 4 c. sed ipse Dominus Simoni sic dixit Diligis me respondit Diligo ait ei Pasce oves meas Hoc verbum factum ex actu ipso quo cessit cognoscimus caeteri Discipuli similiter fecerunt Nolumus ergo fratres devotissimi vos mercenarios inveniri sed bonos Pastores c. Resolving every Apostle Bishop Minister to be as much Pastors and as far bound to feed Christs sheep as Peter Therefore if this gave Peter a Soveraign Jurisdiction over all the Church and Kings themselves it must give the like to all other Bishops Priests Ministers and so we shall have as many Popes Vicars Generals and Supreme heads of the Church of Christ paramount all Kings and Emperors as there are Priests and Bishops 4ly The sheep thus fed are not St. Peters nor any Popes Bishops sheep that feeds them but only the sheep flock of Jesus Christ for whom he hath laid down his life yea purchased redeemed them with his own most precious bloud Therefore their bare feeding of can give them no dominion or Soveraign Jurisdiction over them no more then it doth to any Ordinary countrey Shepherd which feeds keeps folds his Lords or Masters sheep who can neither shear sell thrust them out of the fold pasture nor kill or dispose of them at his pleasure but only guard feed fold carefully watch over and lead them into such pastures as his Lord prescribes his shepherds office being only a painfull carefull Service Ministry not a Dominion or Dignity 5ly All the acts duties of St Peters or any other Apostles Bishops Ministers Pastoral office in relation to Christs flock are meerly servile ministerial towards their sheep for their preservation and welfare not Lordly or Jurisdictional as namely 1. To water and feed them in good green pastures with the wholesom food of Gods word 2ly To watch over them day and night and guard them from Wolves Theeves Robbers that would devour kill seduce destroy them 3ly To go in and out before them in an holy and exemplary conversation 4ly To gather them together when they are scattered by any persecutions Wolves casualties and to seek them out and bring them home to their fold and pasture when they are strayed thence 5ly To stand by them in their greatest dangers without flying and to lay down their lives for their safety and defence against Wolves and Robbers 6ly To gather the Lambs with their arms carry them in their bosoms to lead those gently that ar with young to bind them up which are broken and to heal and strengthen them that are sick 7ly To fold and make them lie down in safety 8ly Not to feed themselves instead of the flock by eating the fat or cloathing themselves with their wooll nor yet to kill starve or fly from them nor to rule them with fear force cruelty as Lords over them nor to use and call them out as sheep appointed for the slaughter as Popes use to do Wherefore none of all these Pastoral positive duties importing the least Dominion or Jurisdiction over Christs sheep but only a ministry and service towards for them accompanied with an heavy wo and account if neglected and the Negative part expresly prohibits all Lordly Dominion and Jurisdiction over them How Popes Prelates or Priests can hence conclude any Supreame Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over Christs Church and flock to be vested in themselves alone not in Kings who are to feed rule them by way of Government and Jurisdiction as Kings but not as meer spiritual shepherds transcends my apprehension Yet hear what Martinus Becanus the Moguntine Jesuite concludes from hence in his Controversia Anglicana De Potestate Regis Pontificis contra Lancelotum Andreum Mogunt 1612. and let all Christian Kings and their Subjects consider it as well with detestation as admiration The Pope as Shepherd who is to feed Christs sheep hath his Doggs And who are they Hi canes intelliguntur partim Reges et Imperatores These Doggs of this proud shepherd are partly Kings and Emperors they must be no longer Sheep but Currs Then descanting upon these their honourable Royal Titles Igitur hi Canes These Doggs therefore if they be watchfull they must be ready at the Shepherds hand but if they be lazie madd or troublesom the Shepherd must presently remove them This He teacheth this the Council of Lateran decreeth He subjoynes Christian Kings are Sheep are Rammes are Wolves and are Doggs though Christ and St Peter never made such distinctions of them Whence it is that the Pope beareth himself in a divers manner towards them As they are Sheep if they be silly he may put them out of the fold As they are Rammes if they be troublesom and push with their horns

aliter ordinari permittemus nisi literas sciant rectam fidem vitamque habeant honestam c. Presbyterum autem minorem 35 annos fieri sed neque Diaconum vel subdiaconum minorem 25. c. Sed neque curialem aut officialem Clericum fieri permittimus Episcopi Clerici in Vrbe Constantinopolitana degentes ibi conveniendi Si vero lis nondum inchoata est apud Gloriosissimum Praefectum oricutis praetoriorum aut apud eos qui a Nobis fuerint deputati Iudices Iubemus Archiepiscopos Seniores Romae c. Whence Papa temporalibus immiscere se non debet Papa Iurisdictionem temporalem Imperii non habet is the Glosse resolves After which he adds this memorable cloze to his Law concerning Bishops Priests Deacons and their respective ordinations Quae igitur a Nobis sancita sunt sacrum ordinem statumqu● custodiunt secundum sacrarum regularum observationem virtutem de caetero observent perpepetue integra et sanctissimi Patriarchae uniuscujusque Ecclesiae whereof the Bishop of Rome was one et Deo amabiles Me●ropolitae et reliqui reverendi Episcopi atque Clerici ubique Dei culturam et sacram disciplinam custodientes inviolatam poena imminente haec praevaricanti quo penitus alienus sit a Deo et imposito sibi Sacerdotii ordine nam velut indignus hoc excluditur Licentiam vero universis damus cujuscunque sint officii vel conversationis respicientibus aliquid horum praevaricari nunciare Nobis et ad Imperium quod semper est ut Nos qui hoc secundum sacrarum regularum explanationem Apostolicamque traditionem constituimus decentem etiam indignationem praevaricantibus inferamus Sanctissimi siquidem Patriarchae uniuscujusque Diocesis haec proponant in Ecclesiis sub se constitutis et manifesta faciant quae a nobis constituta sunt Illi quoque rursus etiam ipsi proponant in Metropolita sanctissima Ecclesia et constitutis sub se Episcopis haec manifesta faciant illorum vero singuli in propria Ecclesia haec proponant ut nullus nostrae Reipublicae ignoret quae a Nobis ad honorem et ad augmentum magni Dei et Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi disposita sunt To which end he commanded Copies of these Laws to be sent to all Metropolitans Johanni vero gloriosissimo praefecto sacrorum praetoriorum secundo ex●onsuli expatricio commanding him to see these Laws duly observed to inform him of all violations of them ut decens super eis imponatur correctio cunctis Utatur quoque praeceptis ad clarissimos Provinciarum Iudices ut et ipsi qui fiunt inspicientes non permittant aliquod ertra hoc quod a Nobis constitutum est fieri imminebit enim eis et poena quinque Librarum auri si quidem et ipsi praevaricari videntes non denunciaverint aut sedi tuae aut Imperio ut undique decens ornatus ordinationis gradui conservetur 5ly By the Prologue of this Law Ut Ecclesia Romana centum annorum gaudeat praescriptione Vt legum originem anterior Roma sortita est et Summi Pontificatus apicem apud eam esse nemo est qui dubitet Yet not in the Pope but King Emperor as he thus declares in the very next words Vnde et Nos necessarium duximus patriam legum fontem Sacerdotii speciali nostri numinis lege not of the Pope illustrare ut ex hac in totas Catholicas Ecclesias quae usque ad Oceanum fretum positae sunt saluberrimae legis vigor extendat et sit totius occidentis necnon et orientis ubi possessiones sitae inveniuntur ad Ecclesias nostras not vestras sive nunc pertinentes seu postea eis acquirendae Lex propria ad honorem Dei consecrata c. Quod igitur nostra aeternitas ad omnipotentis Dei honorem venerandae sedi summi Apostoli Petri dedicavit hoc habeant omnes terrae omnes Insulae totius occidentis quae usque ad ipsas Oceani recessus extendantur nostri Imperii providentiam prae hoc in aeternum reminiscentes hujus legis praerogativam non solum in occidentalibus partibus Romanae Ecclesiae condonamus sed etiam in Orientalibus partibus in quibus Ecclesiasticae Vrbis Romae possessiones sunt vel postea fuerint scilicet omnibus judicibus minoribus et majoribus qui Christiani Orthodoxi sunt vel postea fuerint hanc nostram constitutionem servantibus Nihilominus hujusmodi Legis temeratoribus post coelestes poenas etiam legitimam super vigorem pertimescentibus poenam quinquaginta librarum auri formidantibus hac lege non solum postea in emergentibus causis suum tenorem exercente sed etiam in his quaenam sunt deductae in judicium Sanctitas itaque tua praesentem nostrae mansuetudinis legem piissimam sive sacrosanctam oblationem quam Deo dedicamus accipiens inter sacratissima vasa reponat et a nobis servandam et in omnes Ecclesiasticas possessiones servaturam Dat. xviij Kal. Maii. Capite Bilisario Proconsule This Law the Emperor sent to Pope John the 3d. with this inscription Joanni viro beato sancto Archiepiscopo Patriarchae Veteris Romae which being an Universal Law extending to all parts of the Roman Empire to the possession of all Churches to Isles in the East and West as well as those of Rome equally binding Popes and the Church of Rome as all others and made by the Emperors own inherent Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction without the Pope as the sole Original fountain of Lawes to whom the chief Pontifical Legislative power appertained Compared with his precedent Lawes binding both Popes Patriarchs Metropolitans Bishops Priests all sorts of Ecclesiastical or religious persons and subjecting them to punishments of deprivation imprisonment and other censures to be inflicted on them by the Emperor himself and by his temporal Officers Judges who were to inquire and inform him of all violations of them are pregnant evidences of this Pious Emperors Legislative Coercive Supream Ecclesiastical authority transmitted in Perpetuity by these Laws to the Roman Empire and his Successors therein most perspicuously demonstrate that it was a principal part of his Imperial office duty care to make such Ecclesiastical Laws for the conservation of Gods sacred faith worship Laws and good Government of the Church Clergy as well as Laws for the Government of the Commonwealth 6ly By his declaring resolving Imperator Pater est Legis Nullum genus rerum est quod non sit penitus quaerendum authoritate Imperatoris Is enim recepita Deo coronam gubernationem et Principalitatem super omnes homines Whence Paulus Bishop of Apamea in the 5. General Council of Constantinople upon the death of Pope Agapetus used these words to Justinian Transtulit ipsum Dominus ut plenitudinem directionis vestrae custodiret Serenitati 7ly By declaring That if any Bishop by Doctrine or otherwise move any tumults he shall be punished