Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	order_n	power_n	presbyter_n	3,295	5	9.8702	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77100	Paideia Thriamous. The triumph of learning over ignorance, and of truth over faleshood. Being an answer to foure quæries. Whether there be any need of universities? Who is to be accounted an hæretick? Whether it be lawfull to use coventicles? Whether a lay-man may preach? VVhich were lately proposed by a zelot, in the parish church at Swacie neere Cambridge, after the second sermon, October 3. 1652. Since that enlarged by the answerer, R.B. B.D. and fellow of Trin. Col. Camb.	R. B. (Robert Boreman), d. 1675.	1652 (1652)	Wing B3760; Thomason E681_10; ESTC R206793	32,371	43

the Church the place where Gods people his servants do congregat I fear that it wil happen to you as it doth to the silly Sheep that strayes from the flock which becomes a prey to the devouring Wolfe or as it did to Dinah the daughter of Leah Gen. 34.2 who leaving her Fathers house to see the daughters of the Land was met with and ravished by Shechem So they that forsake their Ministers and out of curiosity resigne and devote themselves to be followers of those who are none they must expect to be defloured of their faith and manners by such seducers who are spirituall Adulterers and Murtherers who corrupt mens Judgements and feast it with the Souls of their simple Disciples whom they grinde with the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril in Hos Teeth of errour and poyson with that cup which they themselves have drunk of a guilded cup of Haeresies full of † abomination and filthinesse The Lord prevent us with his grace and preserve us from these Corruptions S. Augustine in his fourth booke de Doctrinâ Christianâ * Rev. 17.4 c. 10. notes that the word in Latin which signifies a Conventicle or place of privat meeting it is conventiculum tantùm singularitèr dicitur is onely used in the singular number improperly in the plurall as if by God's Spirit the prime Authour of words in the hearts and by the Tongues of men this was thereby intended to be implyed that there must not be more places then one for Gods people to meet in in their severall parishes that is each particular Church the onely place allowed and appointed by God for his publick worship and service Psal 107.31.32 Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonderfull workes before the Sonnes of men That they would exalt him in the Congregation of the people leaving their Conventicles wherein God cannot be so highly praised nor so much honoured as in a place of publick concourse a Church I must for a close of this third Quaere freely vent my thoughts which have beene ever in my brest The Classicall Presbyters made way for these abuses and corruptions in our Church by making an unhappy breach in it when they brought in their Motlie Directorie into the Church by which meanes they drove many out of it into Conventicles and like the Sonnes of Eli 1 Sam. 2.17 by their unjust Usurpation made men to abhorre the offering of the Lord and caus'd the people to trespass ver 14. They too by their usurping the power of Ordination contrary to the rule of Christ and the established order of the Church were the cause that others in opposition to them did and doe now preach without Orders By this we see what good friends and Servants how dutiful Sonnes the Presbyters have been to their Mother the Church All the hurt that I wish them is this that they were confin'd and doom'd Scotorum pultibus saginari to be fellow-Commoners live repent and die amongst their wretched brethren the Scots the first fomenters of our divisions and Authours of our miseries Vossius Hist Pelag. saies of Pelagius that he was Socotorum Pultibus Saginatus Heavenly Father forgive them They know not what mischiefe they have done The fourth QUERE Whether it be lawfull for a Lay-man to preach I Remember a saying of Isocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not proper for an Oratour or any one to spend many words about a businesse or Theme that is cleer and common Therefore seeing that the Quaere is not attended with any great difficulty and hath been so much discussed by the pens of the learned I shall not spend many words about it Onely this I shall say for the benefit and conviction of the Vnlearned to whose capacity I desire to fit my discourse and suit my phrase If by preaching we understand as we are to doe the * 2 Tim 2.15 dividing of the word aright i. e. The applying of it according to the diversity of persons times and places 1 Cor. 7.20 to the consciences of the Hearers in publick which application of it implyes a reproving of sinne in a judiciall authoritative way and a denouncing of Judgment against sinners and lastly a laying forth or unfolding of sweet promises of the Gospell of pardon and forgivenesse to the faithfull and penitent who renounce their own and rely upon Christs merits To affirme that to doe this in a constituted or setled Church is lawfull for a Layman is as incongruous and carryes with it as great an absurdity as to say which is impious that S. Paul was mistaken and did not speak from Christ when he enjoyned every one to abide in that calling to which he is called † Art thou then called to be a Weaver a Taylour or a Cobler desert not thy calling and thrust not thy selfe into that which belongs to another For one to invade the proper duty of a Minister without a speciall calling from the Church is altogether unlawfull so sayes Amesius himselfe lib. 4. de Cas consc cap. 25. Secondly He that can maintain it lawfull for a common Soldier because he hath good skill at his weapon and in the feats of Warre to challenge the place of a Colonell or chiefe Commander without the consent of the superiour Officers He that can prove it that Korah and his two confederates sinned not in rising up against Moses and Aaron and usurping the Priests Office Num. 16.3 Moses I am sure checked their boldnesse thus * Ver. 17. ye take too much upon you c. it was so much and so weighty a burthen their usurpation so great a sinne that the earth could not beare them but opened and swallowed up them and all their proud associates Thirdly He that can convince my Judgement that † 2 Sam. 6.6 Vzzah sinned not in touching the Ark That the men of * 1 Sam. 6.19 Bethshemel did not offend by looking boldly into it That † 1 Sam. 13.11 Saul and * 2 Chr. 26.18 Vzziah did not commit a great trespasse in taking upon them the Priests Office 2 Ch. 26.17,18 Thou hast done foolishly so said Samuel to Saul 1 Sam. 13.13 He lost his Kingdome by it as appears Ver. 14. Now the Kingdome shall not continue c. they are the words of the Prophet Azariah the Priest and with him fourscore Priests of the Lord Valiant men they withstood Uzziah the King and said unto him It belongeth not to thee Uzziah to burne incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sonnes of Aaron that are consecrated for to offer incense goe forth of the Sanctuary for thou hast transgressed and thou shalt have none honour of the Lord thy God You may read ver 19. How that he was punished with Leprosie a soul disease for his foul fact and that in the forehead the seat of Impudencie he was too bold His open sin was

punished with open shame Though his zeal seemed to be good and also his * To a lawfull act there is required not only a good end but also good meanes A good intention if the meanes be bad will not bring a man to Heaven Many with this mistake have gone to Hell Bonum benè is the rule in Divinity intention yet because they were not regulated or guided by Gods word he did wickedly and was therefore both justly resisted by the Priests and punished by God This note you shall finde in the Margin of your English Bibles which I wish were well observed by our too too forward Zelots who flatter and deceive themselves with their good intentions when the meanes they use is not lawfull but unrighteous Fourthly He that can prove it by any plausible argument as I am sure none can though he were as powerfull in invention and witty in Arguing as † Persuadebit nobis quicquid volet ita de Perronio Paulus sanctus in vita Perronii Opusculis ejus praefixâ Perronius once a Cardinall of Rome That it was lawfull under the old law for any Butcher because he had skill in killing of a beast to slay the Sacrifice which was onely proper to * Levit. 1.4 He shall kill the Bullock the Levites And he that shall demonstrate to my understanding that he is not guilty of great presumption and much pride who shall first think himselfe fit for that office which S. Paul so admired and trembled at that he brake forth into a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2.16 who is sufficient for it He that thinkes himselfe so is most unsufficient especially when he shall want all those gifts which are usually seen and required in ministers as skill in the Languages Fathers Councells Schoolemen Church histories with other modern writers together with the Arts and Sciences Fiftly he that shall cleer this point unto me that the practice of Christ and his Apostles together with the whole Church for sixteen hundred yeares and upwards is not to be allowed of especially when that practice is confirmed and ratified by praecept in the holy Scriptures where we find * 1 Tim. 4.14.5.22 Tit. 1.5 Act. 14.23 c. directions to the then Bishops for the laying on of hands upon those who were then and now are to be admitted into holy Orders And lastly he that can evince it that besides the inward Testimony of a mans owne Conscienee * That he is both willing and able to discharge the office of a Minister there is not upon the former grounds required the outward call or Testimony of the Church to whom he is to give triall of his gifts and then receive the Churches blessing with solemn Prayers to God to prosper the work which he is going about i. e. that he may convert Soules and thereby enlarge the Kingdome of Christ He that is able as I am sure none ever was or will be to prove all these particulars shall subdue my reason and bring me to a confession that it is lawfull for a Layman to preach Till this be proved as it never can be expected I shall with the authority of Gods word the consent of all Antiquity and the practice of all Reform'd Churches conclude and stand firmly to this position That no man ought to take upon him this sacred function or office Heb 5.4 but he that is called as Aaron was i. e. by God The voyce of the Church is the voyce of God Ergo Laymen that call themselves by a bold intrusion we may lawfully call Vsurpers of the Priests office of the Stock of Korah of the race of Jeroboam's Priests 1 King 13.33 He made of the lowest of the People Priests of the high places which thing became a sinne to the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and destroy it from the face of the Earth And unlesse the Divine Justice shall speedily stop the mouthes of the Apron-Rabbies and Russet-Levites by some strange judgement and so cut them off who have kindled a flame in State and Church that hath blasted all good order consumed all Gods Ordinances and caused a generall ebbe of Devotion and Piety amongst us who also have crept in like theeves into the Church by back-wayes have secretly insinuated themselves into the Society of Gods people professing themselves to be teachers of the True Faith but are indeed the destroyers of it and Disturbers of our peace Jude 4. ungodly men who were of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordained appointed as if it had beene set downe in a book to this condemnation or to this Judgement to be flagellum Ecclesiae to try to * Id circo doctrinam Catholicam contra dicentium obsidet impugnatio ut fides nostra non otio torpescat sed multis exercitationibus elimetur Aug. exercise and molest the Church by their false Doctrine and when they have done their worst to receive for a recompence or reward of their impiety and wickednesse damnation Till these Incendiaries be suppressed and silenced we cannot expect but that this our now distracted Nation which was once the scourge of others and the praise of all the world shall become the scorne of all Nations whilst as the Jewes once did we destroy our selves at home by our multiplyed divisions and so prevent the mischievous malice of our foraine Enemies Vid. Ioseph Hist. which thing will make us a derision to those that are round about us to the men of Gath and Askelon the uncircumcised Philistines bloody Jesuites and Papists Which God avert for his mercies sake and the Merits of his Sonne Christ Iesus Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem Psal 122.6 ERRATA PAge 9. lin 3. r existimationem ibid. l. 4. r. ab illis p. 11. l. 6. r. argumentations p. 15. marg r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Authours Prayer to God for the suppressing of Haeresie and happy composing of our unhappy Divisions OH Thou who art one and infinite in power the center of perfection and the God of Love collect our scattered thoughts from perverse disputes and worldly distractions draw in our hearts from hunting after Vanities Confine them to thine Heaven and to thy selfe who art the Heaven of that Heaven Make us to love thy Truth which is the brightnesse of thy everlasting light the undefiled mirrour of thy Majesty and the Image of thy Glory And because there is but one Heaven and one way to it that living way of Faith and Obedience Oh let the bright beams of thy grace shine in the hearts of thy people who are now turned to the by-wayes of Errour and wander in the desarts of Sinne and Haeresie reduce them good Father into the way of Truth that with one heart and one minde they may serve thee the onely true God through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Trin-uni Deo sit Honos Laus gloria THE END