Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	church_n	great_a	place_n	5,080	4	4.2516	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09952	The iudgement of a most reuerend and learned man from beyond the seas concerning a threefold order of bishops, with a declaration of certaine other waightie points, concerning the discipline and gouernement of the Church.	Bèze, Théodore de, 1519-1605.; Fielde, John, d. 1588.	1585 (1585)	STC 2021; ESTC S120819	15,412	46

with all the ancient good lawes prouidyng for the resisting of the gouernyng by some few had bene in their former force agayne But besides that the state of the world being quite changed experience of so many ages doeth teach vs too well that vnlesse this roote also be plucked vp it wil come to passe that the same fruite will sprout and bud forth again Finally seing the Lord hath so oftē decided this cōtrouersie of superiority among his own disciples that he shut it cleane out seing the rule both for doctrine good order of the Church is to bee sought for out of the very writings of the apostles it is manifested the churches thē prospered whē all this authoritie of one man ouer the rest yet was not but as that grew vp so al things fell to decay Finally seeyng where the remnants of this gouernment by a few are not cleane taken away the woorke of the Lord is openly hindered Our iudgement is that after the chasing away of this deuise of man the churches shall be wel prouided for if they may be repaired according to the writynges of the Apostles And the reformation as it semeth to vs consisteth herein that first the whole kingdome is to bee deuided into regions Agayne the regions into parishes either of Cities or countrey townes that in places most fit and of greatest assembly be placed pastors beyng lawfully propounded by the company of their owne elders to the kinges christiā maiestie or the deputies therof and allowed of all Lastly beyng receyued of their own people ouer whō they are to be set they be placed promulgation hauing gone before and that in euery parish the pastour may haue with hym fit men to assist him who also may beyng watchfull salue vp the offences not so waighty leauyng the other of greater importance to the whole eldership Also that eldership made of the pastors of parishes both of citie cuntry and a sufficient number of men approoued for their godlines wisedom lawfully also chosen as is aforesayd bee placed in most fitte places who assemblyng at a certaine tyme and place may determine of the Church-affayres of their owne gouernment accordyng to the prescript lawes first set downe in a generall councell and afterward confirmed by the authoritie of the soueraigne maiestie In this company let there be chosen by common voyces one first in order not superior in authoritie who shall be thought most fit and that without making choyse of any certaine place but for a certaine tyme. After the expiryng whereof either let another bee chosen or els the same man is to be established agayne for another tyme by a new consent whose office is to make report of the common affaires to the company to demaund their iudgements and to giue sentence by the iudgement of the eldership hauing no authority giuē him ouer his felows to whō rather he is most subiect In this assembly let nothyng be debated of besides maters of consciēce that by the word of god the lawes of church discipline established drawen out of the worde of God not one whit medling with the authority of the ciuil magistrate And let the soueraign maiesty the lawfull magistrate thereby appointed be keepers of this order the punisher of those that seditiously rage against it But if any shal imagin that this sodain abolishing of both these bishops will minister occasion of new stirres although we see not with what consciēce the bish may so chalenge to themselues the goods of the church or els call thēselues bishops liue like princes of this world yet for to keep the cōmon peace the soueraigne maiesty may leaue vnto thē which are now bishops their reuenues whole for their lyfe tyme so they trouble not the well made order of the Church with prouiding there be none chosen into their place when they bee dead As for the frowardnes of the people it may be kept downe better a great deale by other reynes then by the authoritie of a false named bishop as by preaching of the word of God by censures of the church and the authoritie of the magistrate of the cuntry agaynst the open troubles of the publike state either ecclesiastical or ciuil The Churches may very wel be visited at set times without any great cost and bishoplike pride by thē whō euery eldership hath chosen vnder the K. maiesties authority which wil not be alwais necessary if the elders do rightly execute their office This sitting of the bish with the authority of the voice in the publike estates of the kingdom came in with a manifest abuse cōtrary to the word therfore in our mind is to be vtterly abolished For the bish hath nothing to do in ordring of meer ciuil affairs yet forasmuch as in such assemblies especially some things many times happen belonging to the establishing of the estate order of the churches the kepers wherof the godly magistrates ought to be not the ouer turners as we are taught by the exāple of holy kings It is very necessary that as often as the meetinges of the land are proclaymed intelligence thereof be giuen to the chiefe elders who may bee present in the behalfe of their seignories yet not sittyng as iudges but dealing about matters of the church onely with the estates of the land as their elderships haue giuen them in charge except the states thinke good vpon extraordinary occasion that they aske counsell of God about some other affaires also If also the kinges Maiestie thinke good to admit into counsell amongest the pastors or elders one who shall bee thought to be wise and experienced in things he may admit him though not as a pastor or elder yet as a citizen And it were iniurious to remooue from their office in the Church the pastours and much lesse the Elders and Deacons otherwise laymen frō that degree which they hold as citizens either in the common wealth or in the assemblies But the kings maiesty and all the Princes Lordes are to be exceedyng wary that they make not courtlike gouernours of their pastors to the great endamagyng of the Church as we haue a faire example in Eusebius of Nicomedia in the court of Constantine As for the right of the patronage least some man should say that it was gotten for himselfe Our iudgement is that it may be concealed but not without some conditiōs namely that he which shall be chosen by the free voyces of the eldership should bee offred by the Patrone to the kings maiestie beyng also to set vpon his charge after the consenting of his flocke The second question After that religion is reformed it hath bene a receiued custome that the bishops and of the ministers pastors elders so many as should be sent of the bishops should assemble themselues that they together with the chiefe Barons and nobles which professe the true religion might make enquirie after the doctrine and maners of euery one

appointed there for a tyme. But let vs graunt Epiphanius more then this that Timothie had the authoritie of the laying on of handes out of these woordes of the Apostle Laye not handes sodainely vpon any Let vs graunt this too that these duties belōged to the gouernors yet we deny that Timothie could haue had any authoritie therefore ouer the Elders of Ephesus except he had bin an Euangelist For Paule himselfe Tim. 4. 14. doth shew sufficiently that the laying on of the hands was done in the name of the Eldership it selfe not by the authoritie of any superior Now the reasons of the same Epiphanius are these Bishops saieth hee begette the fathers of the Church but Elders the sonnes in asmuch as bishops and not Elders ordained bishops But what is this els then to aske to haue that which is in question for it may be and ought to bee answered that the bishops tooke that authoritie vpon them without warrant of the word of God and that the rule is false which cōcerning this matter doth attribute it to the Apostles which may be shewed by the ordaining of Timothie by the Eldership Againe forasmuch as election is the chiefe ground of church-offices which dependeth of the voyces of the whole company and not of the laying on of handes which made not bishops but sent them into their possession after they had made them we may more truly affirme with the Apostle that the holy Ghost by the voices of the children themselues made the fathers and not the bishops An other of his reasons is a deprauing of places alleaged out of Paul that the Church being new borne bishops could not be so established euerywhere at the first as is to be seene in the election of Deacons Whom yet can Epiphanius perswade that it was for want of fit men onely that there were many bishops in euery Church For that which not onelye Hierome but Epiphanius against the Miletians also reporteth concerning them of Alexandria that is Alexandria neuer had two bishops as the other cities vpon what ground Oupote● lexandr● duo epis● pous eich● os kai al● poleis the men of Alexandria did it folowed not the examples of other churches let them see to it Finally that this kind of bishop which who so beareth it is not the first in order amongst his felow elders but in degree aboue them beyng the onely man in his diocesse is not ordeined by the word of God but by custome amongst the fathers Hierome witnesseth as very many others long since haue obserued For these are his woordes in his epistle to Euagrius The Apostle saieth hee doeth teach plainely that Elders and Bishops are all one c. And where as one after was chosen to bee set ouer the rest that saith he was a remedy found out for remedy of schisme that euery one drawyng Christ vnto himselfe myght not rend the Church in sunder For at Alexandria also from the tyme of Marke the Euangelist to the tyme of Heraclea and Dionysius the Bishop the Elders placed one in a high degree or place chosen by themselues whom they called a bishop Moreouer vppon the first to Titus An Elder and a Bishop saith hee is all one and before by the instigation of the deuill there was pertakyng in religion it was sayd amongest the people I am of Paule of Apollos and of Caephas the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of the Elders But after that euery one imagined that those whome he baptised were his owne and not Christes it was decreed throughout the whole world that one chosen of the Elders shoulde bee set aboue the rest vnto whome all the care of the church might appertayne to the takyng away of the seedes of contentions And a little after As the Elders knowe that they ate subiect by the custome of the Churche to the Bishop that is set ouer them so let the Bishops knowe that they are greater then the Elders rather by custome then by any vertue of the Lordes appoyntment Yea and Augustine also in his 19. epistle saieth that according to the titles of honor which the vse of the Church hath gotten the office of a bishop is greater then the office of an Elder Chrysostome also witnesseth vpon the first to Timothie and the 3. chapter That the Bishops differ from the Elders onely in ordinatiō that is as Theophilact speaketh more plainly in the onely ceremonie of consecration Theodoret writing vpon the same place saith That in olde tyme they called the same men Elders and Bishops as though forsooth the thing it selfe had then bene onely called by another name and goeth about to prooue that because Paule calleth Epaphroditus the Apostle of the Philippians This is of no weight at all The names which are giuen of fellow labourer and fellow souldiour do declare that he was no bishop in this kind of bishop but an Euangelist tied to no one citie much lesse to a diocesse of the number of those whome the Apostles did keepe to send to and fro at the motiō of the spirit of God The councell of Nice also disputing about the degrees of bishops alleageth ancient customes whereof we minde to speake anon And where as Cyprian not in one place calleth the bishops successors of the Apostles whose authoritie is from God and if we take it so as though by the very commandement of God these bishops are the same that in tyme past the Apostles the thing it selfe doth refute that seeyng there was alwayes a certain portion assigned to euery bishop But the Apostles by the direction of the spirite rite of God though not confusedlie did exercise their ministery throughout the whole worlde But if this be true there should haue beene more bishops in the Church of Rome it selfe namely Peter and Paul which yet afterwards was counted peculiar to one And surely ther cannot be mo the cheefe in one and the same company at one time And whereas the name of Byshops is sayd of the Apostleship Acte 1. 20. It maketh nothing to the matter except a man by a like reason woulde haue the Deacons to haue bin Apostles because Paul calleth his Apostleship a Deaconship or ministery But we are to looke Did●●nian into that also that Hierome mighte seeme to be of the mind that this kinde of Byshop begun thē when as schismes arose vp in the Church That this is not so we may gather out of Paul him self who of purpose writing to the Corinthians about the same matter doth not onely passe ouer this remedy but also as foreseeing such a matter doth in the title of the epistle ioyne vnto him selfe Sosthenes to teach by his example how carefully this Primacie is to be auoyded in assemblies of the Church who it is euident were not onely the first in order next vnto Christ but also highest in degree did execute their ministerie in common Wherefore no not the same Paule alone would excommunicate the incestuous persons by his