Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	elder_a	john_n	pastor_n	11,398	5	10.3791	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A21016	Certaine arguments and motives of speciall moment propounded to the consideration of our most noble King and state tending to perswade them to abolish that unhappy and unhallowed government of our church by bishops, and in stead thereof to set up the government of the Lord Iesus Christ and his holy ordinances in their purity and power.		1634 (1634)	STC 739; ESTC S5086	18,494	38

minister Math. 20.28 and the servant is not above his Lord Math. 10.24 Hee forbiddeth his disciples all such dominion soveraignty Math. 20.25 Marke 10.43 His Apostles receive equall power and authority from him Math. 18.18 Iohn 20.23 They clayme no superiority or primacy one above another but stile themselves servants 2. Cor. 4.5 Ministers dispensers 1. Cor. 4.1 and Ambassadours 2. Cor. 5.20 They send Peter and Iohn as their messengers to Samaria Acts 8.14 which argueth equality Peter disclaiming all such superiority equalleth himselfe with the Ministers and Elders of the Church calling himselfe their fellow elder 1. Pet. 5.1 and forbiddeth Ministers to usurpe any Lordship over Gods heritage ver 3. S. Iohn rebuketh Diotrephes for affecting preheminence Epist 3.9 Nor did ever any man take upon him to bee a Pastour of Pastours but that man of sinne and Lord Bishops which are his genuine ofspring are lineally descended from him As therefore their offices and functions were hatched in hell so it would bee a very happy thing for this state of ours if it would please God and our King that they might bee returned and sent back againe thither that our church which these many yeeres hath borne them as a heavy burden may bee no longer cumbred with them 2 No man living upon the face of the earth may presume to prescribe a paterne according to which the Churches of Christ should bee formed nor may any creature in heaven or earth without a commission from the sonne of God appoint lawes for the guilding and governing of his house that beeing a glory which the Lord Iesus Christ hath reserved in his owne hands and wil communicate neither with man nor Angel it belonging as properly to him to rule his church according to the good pleasure of his owne will as it belongeth to him to save it by the merit of his sufferings Hee by the appointment of his father is the onely head King Lord Lawgiver supreme Governour of his Church which hee hath washed and made white with his blond Ephes 1.22 Iames. 4.12 Revel 7.14 Hee hath not left his Church which is his body maimed or imperfect destitute of lawes and Offices needfull for the governing of the same but hath appointed a Ministery for it with a calling thereunto and with lawes limiting their function and governments leaving nothing therein to the will of man Col. 2.18 This government with ail the offices functions thereto appertaining are set downe in the written word of God the onely rule both of doctrine discipline in the church which is able to make the man of God perfect to every good worke 2. Tim. 3.17 The offices appointed by Christ for the ruling of his churches are those of Pastours Teachers and Elders whose severall gifts properties and qualifications are distinctly and at large set downe in the Scripture These offices and ministeries and the lawes concerning the same are sufficient for the ruling of Christ his Church here on earth and that forme and frame of government prescribed and left by our Saviour for the ordering of his house is every way complete of it selfe and needeth no helpe of man to make it perfect Else Christ can not bee honoured as a perfect governour of his Church and otherwise both the Scripture and Christs body are imperfect And if these bee not perfect then may man erect new offices and adde new Ministeries and hee may also take away and alter any of these at his owne pleasure Then also is the Church of the new Testament inferiour to that of the old which received all the lawes ordinances from God himselfe But to affirme all or any one of these it is impious and absurd And as this government appointed by Christ is sufficient and most perfect so is it perpetuall and may not bee altered by men or Angeles Timothie is commaunded to keepe this platforme and all the ordinances concerning it to the glorious comming of the Lord Iesus 1. Tim. 5.21 and 6.13.14 All the offices of this church mentioned Rom. 12.6.7.8 are called members of the body of the church ver 5. and 1. Cor. 12.27.28 which is the body of Christ Eph. 1.22.23 If therefore the church of Christ which is his body must continue perfect till his comming these offices and ministeries must also continue for if any one of them bee taken away his body is maimed and mangled And if Christ shall continue to bee governour of his churches hee must continue to rule and governe in them by his owne Officers and by those lawes and ordinances which hee himselfe hath prescribed in his word otherwise hee is not the governour of them If his Officers bee refused hee is rejected and if the order of government appointed by him bee thrust out another substituted in the roome of it then is hee upon the point deposed from his regency the scepter is taken out of his hands 3 If this holy government instituted and ordained by the sonne of God himselfe might bee erected and set up in our churches there would bee such a confluence concurrence of all good things contributing joyntly to the happines of this kingdome as our eyes have never yet seene Gods blessing doth ever accompany his owne ordinance But if that bee either sleighted or neglected though men take the wisest and the most politike courses that their silly and shallow braines can devise for the attaining of the same ends which God aimeth at the Lord bloweth upon them and blasteth them bringeth them all to nothing that they do no good as might easily bee exemplified in many other particulars as well as in this of Church government if neede required For hee destroyeth the wisdome of the wise bringeth to nothing the understanding of the prudent 1. Cor. 1.19 the foolishnes of God beeing wiser then men and the weakenes of God stronger then men ver 25. But to keepe to the point in hand This government of the church by Archbishops and Lord Bishops was first brought in and hath beene very unhappily continued in our land under a pretence of preserving the peace unity of the Church for the preventing of schismes and divisions in the same But the wofull experience of many yeeres sheweth that these strange Lords who by their places should bee fathers and fosterers of the church have beene and are to this day cruell and cursed Stepfathers to it and in stead of preventing distractions and dissensions among us they have beene from time to time the sole cause and originall of all those most lamentable divisions and of those heavy pressures which our poore churches have groned under ever since the Gospel came into this kingdome What errour and heresies have they of late brought in countenanced by their authority to the harts griefe of many of the best affected people of the land How do Arminianisme and Bellarminianisme prevaile by reason of that favour which these linsey-woolsey luke-warme Laodiceans shew