Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bind_v	heaven_n	loose_v	6,489	5	10.6824	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86000	A form for Church government and ordination of ministers, contained in CXI propositions, propounded to the late Generall Assembly at Edinburgh, 1647. Together with an Act concerning Erastianisme, independencie, and liberty of conscience. Published by authority.; CXI propositions concerning the ministerie and government of the Church.	Gillespie, George, 1613-1648.	1647 (1647)	Wing G749; Thomason E418_3; ESTC R202292	30,071	51

his territory restraineth or expelleth the insolent and untamed disturbers of the Church 65. He taketh care also for maintaining the Ministers and Schools and supplyeth the temporall necessities of Gods Servants by his command assembleth Synods when there is need of them and summoneth calleth out and draws to tryall the unwilling which without the Magistrates strength and authority cannot be done as hath bin already said he maketh Synods also safe and secure and in a civil way presideth or moderateth in them if it so seem good to him either by himself or by a substitute Commissioner In all which the power of the Magistrate though occupied about spirituall things is not for all that spiritual but civill 66. Fourthly they differ in the end The immediate nearest end of civil power is that the good of the Common-wealth may be provided for and procured whether it be in time of Peace according to the rules of Law and counsel of Judges or in time of War according to the rules of Military prudence and so the temporall safety of the Subjects may be procured and that external Peace and civil Liberty may be preserved and being lost may be again restored 67. But the chiefest and last end of civill Government is the glory of God the Creator namely that those which do evil being by a superior power restrained or punished and those which do good getting praise of the same the subjects so much the more may shun impiety and injustice and that Vertue Justice and the Morall Law of God as touching those eternal duties of both Tables unto which all the posterity of Adam are obliged may remain in strength and flourish 68. But whereas the Christian Magistrate doth wholly devote himself to the promoting of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ and doth direct and bend all the might and strength of his authority to that end This proceedeth not from the nature of his office and function which is common to him with an Infidell Magistrate but from the influence of his common Christian calling into his particular vocation 69. For every member of the Church and so also the faithful and godly Magistrate ought to referr and order his particular vocation faculty ability power and honour to this end that the Kingdom of Christ may be propagated and promoted and the true Religion be cherished and defended So that the advancement of the Gospell and of all the Ordinances of the Gospell is indeed the end of the godly Magistrate not of a Magistrate simply or if ye will rather t is not the end of the office it self but of him who doth execute the same piously 70. But the end of Ecclesiastical power yea the end as well of the Ministry it self as of the godly Minister is that the Kingdom of Christ may be set forward that the pathes of the Lord be made straight that his holy mysteries may be kept pure that stumbling-blocks may be removed out of the Church least a little leaven leaven the whole lump or least one sick or scabbed sheep infect the whole flock that the faithfull may so walk as it becometh the Gospell of Christ and that the wandring sheep of Christ may be converted and brought back to the sheep-Fold 71. And seeing this power is given of the Lord not to destruction but to edification Therefore this same scope is propounded in Excommunication which is the greatest and last of Ecclesiastical censures namely that the soul of an offending brother may be gained to Christ and that being stricken with fear and the stubborn sinner filled with shame may by the grace of God be humbled and may as a brand plucked out of the fire be snatched out of the snare of the Devill and may repent unto salvation at least the rest may turn away from those which are branded with such a censure least the soul infection do creep and spread further 72. Fiftly they are distinguished by the effect The effect of civil power is either proper or by way of redundance The proper effect is the safety temporal of the Common-wealth externall tranquillity the fruition of civil Liberty and of all things which are necessary to the civil Society of men The effect by way of redundance is the good of the Church to wit in so far as by execution of Justice and good Laws some impediments that usually hinder and disturb the course of the Gospel are avoided or taken away 73. For by how much the more faithfully the Magistrate executeth his office in punishing the wicked and cherishing and encouraging good men taking away those things which withstand the Gospell and punishing or driving away the troublers and subverters of the Church so much the more the orthodox Faith and Godlyness are reverenced and had in estimation sins are hated and feared Finally and all the subjects contained as much as concerneth the outward man within the lists of Gods Law Whence also by consequence in happeneth by Gods blessing that the Church is desiled with fewer scandalls and doth obtain the more freedom and Peace 74. But the proper effect of the Ecclesiasticall power or keys of the Kingdom of Heaven is wholly spirituall for the act of binding and loosing of retaining and remitting sins doth reach to the soul and conscience it self which cannot be said of the act of the civill power And as unjust Excommunication is void so Ecclesiasticall censure being inflicted by the Ministers of Christ and his Stewards according to his will is ratified in Heaven Mat. 18. 18. and therefore ought to be esteemed and acknowledged in like manner as inflicted by Christ himself 75. Sixthly they are also differenced in respect of the Subject The politick power is committed sometimes to one sometimes to more sometime by right of election sometime by right of succession But the Ecclesiasticall power is competent to none under the New Testament by the right of succession but he who hath it must be called by God and the Church to it neither was it given by Christ to one either Pastor or Elder much less to a Prelate but to the Church that is to the consistory of Presbyters 'T is confessed indeed and who can be ignorant of it that the power as they call it of order doth belong to particular Ministers and is by each of them apart lawfully exercised but that power which is commonly called of jurisdiction is committed not to one but to the unity that is to a consistory therefore Ecclesiasticall censure ought not to be inflicted but by many 2 Cor. 2. 6. 76. Seventhly they differ as touching the correlative God hath commanded that unto the civil power every soul or all Members of the Common-wealth of what condition and estate soever be subiect for what have we to do with the Papists who wil have them whom they call the Clergy or Ecclesiasticall persons to be free from the yoke of the civill Magistrate The Ecclesiasticall power extends it self to none other subiects then unto those

which are called Brethren or Members of the Church 77. Eightly there remaineth another difference in respect of the distinct and divided exercise of authority For either power ceasing from its duty or remitting punishment that doth not surely it ought not prejudice the exercise of the other power namely if the Magistrate cease to do his duty or do neglect to punish with secular punishment those malefactors which by profession are Church Members Nevertheless it is in the power of the Governors of the Church by the bridle of Ecclesiastical Discipline to curb such men yea also by vertue of their office they are bound to do it and on the other part the Magistrate may and ought to punish in life and limb honours or goods notwithstanding the offenders repentance or reconciliation with the Church 78. Therefore the one sword being put up in the scabbard it is free and often necessary to draw the other Neither power is bound to cast out or receive him whom the other doth cast forth or receive The reason whereof is because the Ecclesiastical Ministry doth chiefly respect the repentance to salvation and gaining of the sinners soul wherefore it also imbraceth all kind of wicked men repenting and receiveth them into the bosome of the Church The Magistrate proposeth to himself another and much differing scope for even repenting offenders are by him punished both that Justice and the Laws may be satisfied as also to terrifie others hence it is that absolution from Ecclesiastick censure freeth not at all the Delinquent from civill Judgment and that external sword 79. Seeing then there are so many and so great differences of both Offices and seeing also that the function of Ministers and Elders of the Church is not at all contained in the office of the Magistrate neither on the other part this is comprehended within that Magistrates shal no less sin in usurping Ecclesiastical power ministring holy things ordaining Ministers or exercising Discipline Ecclesiasticall then Ministers should sin in rushing into the borders of the Magistrate and in thrusting themselves into his calling 80. Neither are those powers more mingled one with other or less distinguished where the Magistrate is a Christian then where he is an Infidell For as in a believing Father and in an Infidel Father the rights of a Father are the same so in a Christian Magistrate and in an Infidell Magistrate the rights of Magistrates are the same So that to the Magistrate converted to the Christian Faith there is no accession of new right or increase of civil power although being indued with true Faith and Piety he is made more fit and willing to the undergoing of his office and the doing of his duty 81. So then the Word of God and the Law of Christ which by so evident difference separateth and distinguisheth Ecclesiastical Government from the Civill forbiddeth the Christian Magistrate to enter upon or usurp the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments or the juridicall dispensing of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to invade the Church-Government or to challenge to himself the right of both swords spirituall and corporal But if any Magistrate which God forbid should dare to arrogate to himself so much and to enlarge his skirts so far the Church shal then straight way be constrained to complain justly and cry out that though the Pope is changed yet Popedom remaineth still 82. It is unlawfull moreover to a Christian Magistrate to withstand the practise and execution of Ecclesiasticall Discipline whether it be that which belongs to a particular Church or the matter be carryed to a Class or Synode Now the Magistrate withstandeth the Ecclesiastick Discipline either by prohibitions and uniust Laws or by his evil example stirring up and inciting others to the contempt thereof or to the trampling it under foot 83. Surely the Christian Magistrate if any time he give any grievous scandall to the Church seeing he also is a member of the Church ought no ways disdain to submit himself to the power of the keys Neither is this to be marvelled at for even as the office of the Minister of the Church is no ways subordinate and subjected to the civil power but the person of the Minister as he is a member of the Common-wealth is subject thereto So the civil power it self or the Magistrate as a Magistrate is not subjected to Ecclesiastick power yet that man who is a Magistrate ought as he is a member of the Church to be under the Churches censure of his manners after the example of the Emperour Theodosius unless he wil despise and set at nought Ecclesiastick Discipline and indulge the swelling pride of the flesh 84. If any man should again object that the Magistrate is not indeed to resist Ecclesiasticall Government yet that the abuses thereof are to be corrected and taken away by him The answer is ready in the worst and troublesome times or in the decayed and troubled estate of things when the ordinance of God in the Church is violently turned into tyranny to the treading down of true Religion and to the oppressing of the Professors thereof and when nothing almost is sound or whole divers things are yielded to be lawfull to godly Magistrates which are not ordinarily lawfull for them that so to extraordinary diseases extraordinary remedies may be applyed So also the Magistrate abusing his power unto tyranny and making havock of all t is lawfull to resist him by some extraordinary ways and means which are not ordinarily to be allowed 85. Yet ordinarily and by common or known Law and Right in settled Churches if any man have recourse to the Magistrate to complain that through abuse of Ecclesiastick Discipline injury is done to him or if any sentence of the Pastors and Elders of the Church whether concerning Faith or Discipline do displease or seem uniust unto the Magistrate himself it is not for that cause lawfull to draw those Ecclesiasticall causes to a civil tribunal or to bring in a kind of political or civil Popedom 86. What then Shall it be lawful ordinarily for Ministers and Elders to do what they list or shall the Governors in the Churches glorying in the Law by their transgression dishonour God God forbid For first if they shall trespass in any thing against the Magistrate or municipal Laws whether by intermedling in judging of civil causes or otherwise disturbing the peace and order of the Common-wealth they are liable to civil tryal and judgments as it is in the power of the Magistrate to restrain and punish them 87. Again it hath been before shewed that to Ecclesiastical evils Ecclesiastical remedies are appointed and fitted for the Church is no less then the Common-wealth through the grace of God sufficient to it self in reference unto her own end and as in the Common-wealth so in the Church the errour of inferior judgments and Assemblies or their evil Government is to be corrected by superior judgments and Assemblies and so still by