Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bishop_n	diocese_n	presbyter_n	3,405	5	10.2249	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66900	Pulpit-conceptions, popular-deceptions, or, The grand debate resumed, in the point of prayer wherein it appears that those free prayers so earnestly contended for have no advantage above the prescribed liturgie in publick administrations : being an answer to the Presbyterian papers presented to the most reverend the ls. bishops at the Savoy upon that subject.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.	1662 (1662)	Wing W3347; ESTC R25192	47,855	72

Caesarea and Gregory Thaumaturgus before him at Neocaesarea and all Pastours in Justin Martyr 's and Tertullian 's days What all Pastours that is all Bishops did in those days we have no leisure neither are we much concern'd now to examine Indeed Nicephorus tells us Non omnes quamvis ejusdem Eccles Histor lib. 12. cap. 34. opinionis essent easdem traditiones in Ecclesiis servarunt c. All that were of the same opinion did not hold the same Traditions And they which maintained the same Faith did not observe the same Customs And he gives a reason why the first Ministers of the Word left such observances free to every ones choice Ut quisque non metu ibid. aut necessitate quapiam adductus quod bonum est deligere sequi posset That every one might follow what is good out of choice and not be led to it out of fear and necessity But to fetch the ground of this diversity from the very first Original we may consider that where the Apostles planted the Christian Faith they likewise establish'd such an Order such Rites and Forms as they thought most apt to promote the Worship of God and the Edification of his Church But because they did not consult aforehand about the institution of these Rites c. as they had done about the Faith which they were more chiefly concerned to plant and propagate Evenit ut statos ritus ab aliis diversos suae quisque provinciae servandos tradiderit hence it came to pass that every one of them delivered to his own Province such Rites to be observed as were different from the rest Which Rites so diversly established by them were out of a reverence to their Authority and Memory still retained by their Successors for so Nicephorus concludes Dissensiones tales in Ecclesiis invaluisse opinor reverentiâ ibid. eorum qui eis ab initio praefuerunt qui illis deinde successerunt Nam ii tanquam leges quasdam ab illis acceptas per manus posteris tradidere non satis pium neque ferendum esse arbitrati si traditiones in quibus educati essent non honorificè colerent sed contemptim rejicerent The like hath * Hist Eccles lib. 7. cap. 19. Sozomen before him But there is besides another reason for the continuance of this diversity of Rites and Usages in the Churches of several Nations because the rage of Tyrants would not suffer the Governours of the Church to meet together to consult and by their common Suffrages to establish one Form and Order for the Universal Church And yet what was done by Basil and other Bishops in their several Dioceses doth not at all favour the Pretensions of these Dissenters for whatever the Bishops were allowed to doe yet the single Presbyters were alwaies obliged to use such forms as were duely examined and prescribed for them witness that ancient Canon which we find though with some small variety in three or four * Justell Codex Can. Eccl. Afric Can. 103. Conc. Carthag 3 Can. 23. Conc. Milevit Can. 12. several places in these words Placuit ut Preces vel Orationes seu Missae quae probatae fuerint in Concilio sive Praefationes sive Commendationes seu Manûs impositiones ab omnibus celebrentur Nec aliae omnino dicantur in Ecclesia nisi quae à Prudentioribus tractatae vel comprobatae in Synodo fuerint nè fortè aliquid contra Fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum They would allow no Prayers to be used in the Church but such as were compiled by the most Prudent or approved of in a Synod lest through Ignorance or Carelesness any thing should be delivered contrary to the Faith And we find that such as were intrusted with Cure of Souls were obliged to give account at certain times to the Bishop whether the rites and ceremonies of that Church to which they were subject were observed The words of the * Franc. Synod Capitul li. 5. cap. 2. Synod are these Presbyter in parochia habitans in Quadragesima rationem ordinem Ministerii sui sive de Baptismo sive de Fide Catholica sive de Precibus ordine Missarum Episcopo reddat ostendat And this was a thing judged most reasonable by * in Epist ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignatius a Contemporary with the Apostles Let there be nothing amongst you that may divide you saith he but be united to your Bishop by him be subject to God in Christ As therefore the Lord doth nothing without the Father for I can doe nothing Joh. 5. 35. of my self saith He so also let it be amongst you whether Priest or Deacon or Lay-person let him doe nothing without the Bishop Let nothing seem reasonable to you without his judgment for that thing whatsoever it be is irregular and offensive to God Come unanimously together to your devotions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let there be one Common Prayer one mind one hope c. From all which evidences it appears that the Liberty which we find used among the Ancients of varying in the publick Forms or Rites of the Church did not belong to single Presbyters but was the peculiar priviledge of the Bishops in their several Dioceses and through the good Providence and Grace of God that liberty was at last restrained and an Uniformity brought into the Church For so * ubi suprà lib. 12. c. 34. in pr. Nicephorus acknowledgeth Mores saith he qui antea quidem sic variè obtinuerunt nunc autem per Gratiam Dei cum tempore mutati ad consentientem concordiam apud omnes pervenerunt And besides the good Providence of God concurring to this effect 't is very well observed by a very worthy person * Mr. Thorndike The Service of God at Religious Assemblies pag. 398. that The reason why a Set Order in the Parts of Publick Service is now preferred before the disposition of the Guides of the Church from time to time is the same for which men chuse to live by positive Law rather then by the Will of their Rulers And a little after he saith Besides in Ecclesiastical matters by a set Order we attain Uniformity with other Churches to help towards the unity of the whole we avoid disputes about what is most fitting which in matters of this probable nature must needs be endless we avoid jealousies and umbrages upon that which is not customable But now 't is high time for some dutiful Sons to step in and plead the Cause of the Fathers of the Church and are not these Dissenters very like to prove good Advocates for them Heare them argue And how injurious is it to the Publick Offficers of Christ the Bishops and Pastours of the Churches to be called private men But you know if you be not too hasty to consider it Volenti non fit injuria there is no harm done

act accordingly and I doubt not the Liturgy of the Church will become a Laudable Form of Divine Service and more frequented But is it any uncharitable or rash Censure to say that He hath just cause to cry out against himself Video meliora probôque Deteriora sequor when we see him so refractory to his Spiritual Guides so cross to his own Principles setting himself in the breach industriously to prevent the closing of it To this end he hath a new devise in the next passage which is recommended to us in these words And might we but sometimes have the liberty to interpose such words as are needful to call home and quicken attention and affection we should think that a convenient conjunction of both might be a well-tempered means to the Constitutions of most It seems your Wit goes a Wool-gathering at the time of your devotion But admit it does is not the voice of a Publick Solemn Office loud enough to call it home or can you not find a Rod to fetch it Get a lively sense and conscience of your duty with an apprehension of that dreadfull Majesty which is alwaies present to behold with how serious an affection and reverence you perform your homage to him Try what effects that will work upon your Phantasy However we commend your modesty that you desire but sometimes to have the liberty to interpose such words as are needful to call home and quicken attention and affection But what will a dead affection and a roving phantasy serve God's turn or yours otherwhiles Besides do you take notice that your affection is dull and your Phantasy a wandring or do you not If you do not you have no occasion of such interjections if you do then now you are awakened and you have nothing more to doe but to be careful to go forward He that apprehends that out of his own oscitancy and heedlesness he hath step'd aside and loytered in his journey and yet descries his right way before him does but trifle and wander more in running to the next house to parly about his deviation And what are those needful words which you desire the liberty to interpose in the use of the Common Publick Form Are they non-sense or significant If Non-sense then it will be ridiculous to interpose them If Significant then either they signify the same thing with the Form wherein you would insert them or something else If the same thing with the Form why should the Form be interrupted why cannot you pray for the same thing in the same words as did our Saviour If they signifie something else that is not in the Form and yet you will interrupt the Form to interpose them in stead of quickening attention you will raise a wonder and give a scandal and put the people into confusion And therefore 't is your wisest way to keep those needful awakening words as a Reserve to assist you in your private Closet for the conjunction of such crude interpositions with the Publick solemn Liturgy would be disconvenient they will never cotton well nor doth God allow that his field should be ploughed with an Ox and an Ass yoak'd together But still we see as you proceed in your Complaint the world will run into extreams whatever be said or done to hinder it And they that can run faster this way then your selves for me let them win the goale and wear the garland But you seek to justifie your selves if you could in your next lines where you say It is but lately that we were put to it against one extream to defend the lawfulness of a Form of Liturgy I perceive you would faine be reputed Medium Harmonicum but the world knows you have for a long while marr'd the Musick of this Church by your jarring disproportions For who untaught even your Godly people what credit and obedience is due to their Spiritual Guides but you Who pulled down and disgraced the Solemn Liturgy of the Church but you That you were put to it to defend the lawfulnesse of Liturgie was a necessity of your own creating and you did but fight with your own shadow in that combate for that extream was your own production and we observe you cannot forbear to expresse a very fond affection towards it upon all occasions in your discourse No no We cannot be deluded by such aquivocation you never cordially espoused the quarrel of a Liturgy we perceive well enough where the shoe wrings you in your next words when you tell us Now on the other extream it troubleth us that we are forced against you even such as you to defend the use of such prayers of the Pastours of the Churches as are necessarily varied according to Subjects and Occasions while you would have no prayers at all in the Church but such Prescribed Forms Whether that reduplication of you even such as you be an Emphasis of respect or indignation we shall not consult Mr Baxter's Grotian Religion to interpret it But if to have no Prayers in the Publick Solemn Service of the Church but Prescribed Forms be one of your Extreams we hope 't is so onely in that sense in which the Pythagoreans called Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an extremitie for its supereminency and perfection for we are sure it is opposite to no moral Vertue And yet if the Pastors of the Churches by them understanding the Bishops as the Ancients usually do shall in their Prudence think fit to vary the Forms upon occasion we are alwaies content to submit to the variation But that single Presbyters ever had that Liberty of varying according to their own Phantasies we stedfastly deny And we adde yet further that the Subjects and Occasions may be such as in discretion are not fit to be inserted into the Solemn Service of the Church St Paul's thorne in the flesh might have wounded the heart of an unwary weak Disciple if it had been inserted into the Publick Liturgy * We could tell you of Tickets put up to Ministers to beg their Pulpit-prayers which have been not onely very strange but very scandalous and he is a stranger to this City that hath not observed it It is more safe and prudent to recommend some things to Almighty God in general expressions then to insist too particularly and positively upon them Christ knew very well the chief and particular wants of his Disciples when they begg'd that form of Prayer of him yet he descends not to any enumeration of those particulars but delivers the Form in General terms because it was for a Publick use and benefit In petendis à Deo beneficiis saepe erramus Rosignolius de Disciplina Christianae Perfectionis lib. 3. c. 19. nec in hisce rebus Deo quasi precum vis est adferenda sed liberum illi permittendum ut nos quò libuerit maximè impellat Fieri enim saepe solet ut Deus iis qui hac animi dispositione carent quod petunt impertiatur

evident Ephes 4. 1 2 3 c. I therefore the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit See 1 Cor. 1. 10. and Rom. 15. vers 5. 6. ut suprá in the bond of peace There is one body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all And Rom. 16. 17. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them That they recommended Uniformity and Order to preserve that Unity is no less evident and upon this account their Order was a Prospect of so much pleasure to the Great Apostle in the Church of the Colossians Col. 2. 5. For though I be absent in the flesh yet am I with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your Order and the Stedfastness of your Faith in Christ * Vide R. P. E. S. Jo. Davenant in Locum When men begin to break Order they grow loose in their Faith both to God and man This is the First Principle 2. The Apostles at their first preaching of the Gospel did not establish that Order which the State of the Church did afterwards require This is evident from those Decrees made in the first Council at Jerusalem Act. 15. and from that of the Apostle The rest will I set in order when I come The Second Principle 3. They exspected such a settlement to be made by those to whom they did intrust the Government of the Church This is evident from St Paul's Epistle to Titus Chap. 1. 5. where he tells him For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are left undone according to the Original From which words these two things do naturally follow 1. That at his first preaching of the Gospel St Paul had left some things undone which even in his own judgment were afterwards fit to be done which shews the vanity and falshood of that pretension That because the Apostles did not establish such and such things therefore forsooth they did not think them convenient to be established at all 2. From hence it follows That he exspected the accomplishment hereof from the care of Titus The Third Principle 4. They gave certain Canons or general Rules to direct the Governours of the Church in making such Establishments Such are those mentioned in St Paul's Epistles Let all things be done to the glory of God Let all things be done to edification Let all things be done decently and in order Hereupon * Institut lib. 3. cap. 19. §. 15. Calvin writing of Ecclesiastical Constitutions doth acknowledge some of them to be lawful ut Dei verbo consentaneae as being consonant to the Word of God And * In confes Fidei cap. 5. §. 17. Beza saith Necesse est ut in domo Dei omnia ordine fiant cujus Ordinis una quidem est universalis ratio ex verbo Dei petenda sed non una eadem forma quibusvis circumstantiis conveniens That is It is necessary that in the house of God all things be done in Order of which Order the one Universal Rule or Reason is to be taken out of the Word of God though there be not one and the same form agreeing in all circumstances And again Ejusmodi §. 16. constitutiones saith he quod attinet ad finem fundamentum nempe generale illud decorum quod nobis observandum praecipitur divinae sunt coelestes That is Such Constitutions as to the end and foundation of them to wit that General Decorum which we are commanded to observe are divine and celestial The Fourth Principle 5. They left it to the Judgment of the Governours of the Church to determine of the Particulars to be established according to These Rules That the Church hath power to institute External Rites and prescribe Forms and to make Canons and Constitutions to assist her Children and regulate their Practice in the Publick Worship and Service of God is the Confession of All Churches And this is consonant to the Word of God too For that Word or God by it which is all one gives a charge to the Church as hath been said to doe all things to Edification and the Glory of God and to this end it injoyns her to perform all her Holy Offices decently and in order and to worship God in the beauty of Holiness This the Word of God commands but does not determine the Particulars wherein that Order beauty decency do consist It follows therefore that This Word of God supposeth a Power in the Church to institute Rites and prescribe Forms and make Canons to this purpose And where shal we find this power lodged by the Apostle at that time when there were no Kings that were nursing Fathers to the Church For this cause I left thee Titus a single Person and at least a Bishop in Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting Tit. 1. 5. The Power and Authority is lodged in the Governours that is the Bishops of the Church The Fifth Principle Remember Mr Baxter's Doctrine before mentioned of the Authority of the Governours of the Church 6. That all Subjects and Members of the Church are obliged in Conscience to submit to and obey such Determinations For 't is most certain where some are impowered to command others are injoyned to obey else the Power given to Superiors would be to no effect Hereupon Beza acknowledgeth That although these Ecclesiastical Constitutions be Humane and mutable and do not propriè per se properly by themselves bind the Conscience yet si quidem probae justae sunt if they be just and honest we are so far forth obliged to observe them as they conduce to the Ut Ecclesiae aedificationi cedant offendiculum vitemus Beza ubi suprá edification of the Church and that we may avoid Scandal Thus Beza And the Presbyterian Divines do acknowledge as much in their Grand Debate pag. 92. The Subjects say they are bound to obey a * Was O. Cromwell's a true Authority you thought your selves bound to obey that true or false true Authority in such impositions as they are there speaking of where the matter belongs to the Cognizance and Office of the Ruler But suppose I should scruple my Obedience thinking my Superiour's impositions to be against the commands of God Why even in this case I am obliged to lay aside my own scruples and to bring such thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ who hath commanded me to obey those Hebr. 13. 17. that have the Rule over me My doubting whether the Command