Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	bishop_n	church_n	presbyter_n	1,031	5	10.3609	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50522	The works of the pious and profoundly-learned Joseph Mede, B.D., sometime fellow of Christ's Colledge in Cambridge; Works. 1672	Mede, Joseph, 1586-1638.; Worthington, John, 1618-1671.	1672 (1672)	Wing M1588; ESTC R19073	1,655,380	1,052

he blaspemes that God who brings that punishment upon them Eusebius lib. 4. Hist. Cap. 17. cites the same out of both with approbation So doth Oecumenius upon the last Chapter of the first of S. Peter Epiphanius against Heresie 39. gives the same as his own assertion almost in the same words with Iustin and Irenaeus though not naming them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Before the coming of Christ the Devil did not dare to speak a blasphemous word against his Lord for being in expectation of the coming of Christ he imagined he should obtain some mercy I will not enquire how true this Tenet of theirs is but only gather this that they could not think the Devils were cast into Hell before the coming of Christ For then how could they but have known they should be damned if the execution had already been done upon them Saint Augustine as may seem intending to reconcile these places of Peter and Iude with the rest of Scripture is alledged to affirm that the Devils suffering some Hell-like torment in their Aiery Mansion the Air may in that respect in an improper sense be called Hell But that the Devils were locally or Actually in Hell or should be before the Day of Iudgment it is plain he held not and that will appear by these two passages in his Book de Civitate Dei First where he saith Daemones in hoc quidem aere habitant quia de Coeli superioris sublimitate dejecti merito irregressibilis transgressionis in hoc sibi congruo velut carcere praedamnati sunt Lib. 8. Cap. 22. The Devils indeed have their habitation in this Air for they being cast out of the highest heaven through the due desert of their unrecoverable apostasie and transgression are fore-condemned and adjudged to be kept in this Aiery region as in a prison very congruous and fit for such transgressors The other in the same Book chap. 23. where he expounds that of the Devils Matth. 8. Art thou come to torment us before the time that is saith he ante tempus Iudicii quo aeternâ damnatione puniendi sunt cum omnibus etiam hominibus qui eorum societate detinentur before the time of the last Iudgment when they are to be eternally punished together with all those men who are entangled in their society The Divines of latter times the School-men and others to reconcile the supposed Contrariety in Scripture divide the matter holding some Devils to be in the Air as S. Paul and the History of Scripture tell us some to be already in Hell as they thought S. Peter and S. Iude affirm'd which opinion seems to be occasioned by a Quaere of S. Hierom's upon the sixth of the Ephesians though he speaks but obscurely and defines nothing But what ground of Scripture or Reason can be given why all the Devils which sinned should not be in the same Condition especially that Satan the worst and chief of them should not be in the worst estate but enjoy the greatest liberty It follows therefore that these places of S. Peter and S. Iude are to be construed according to the sense I have given of them namely That the evil Spirits which sinned being adjudged to Hellish torments were cast out of Heaven into this lower Region there to be reserved as in a prison for chains of darkness at the Day of Iudgment DISCOURSE V. 1 COR. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God A Man would think at first sight that this Scripture did exceedingly warrant our use of the word Minister in stead of that of Priest and leave no plea for them who had rather speak otherwise Howsoever I intend at this time to shew the contrary and even out of this Text that we have very much swerved herein from the Apostles language and abuse that word to such a sense as they never intended nor is any where found in Scripture I favour neither superstition nor superstitious men yet truth is truth and needful to be known especially when ignorance thereof breedeth errour and uncharitableness My Discourse therefore shall be of the use of the words Priest and Minister wherein shall appear how truly we are all Ministers in our Apostle's sense and yet how abusively and improperly so called in the ordinary and prevailing use of that word I will begin thus All Ecclesiastical persons or Clergy-men may be considered in a Threefold relation First to God secondly to the People thirdly one toward another In respect to God all are Ministers of what degree soever they be because they do what they do by commission from him either more or less immediate for a Minister is he qui operam suam alicui ut superiori aut domino praebet who serves another as his Superior or Master In respect of the People all are Bishops that is Inspectores or Overseers as having charge to look unto them But lastly compared one to another he whom we usually call Bishop is only Overseer of the rest Inspector totius Cleri Deacons are only Ministers to the rest Ministri Presbyterorum Episcoporum and in that respect have their name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are properly but two Orders Ecclesiastical Presbyteri Diaconi the one the Masters Priests the other the Ministers Deacons The rest are but diverse degrees of these Two As Bishops are a degree of Presbyters of divine ordinance to be as Heads Chiefs and Presidents of their Brethren So Sub●deacons Lectors and indeed any other kind of Ecclesiastical Ministers whether in Ecclesia or Foro Ecclesiastico I mean whether they attend divine Duties in the Church or Iurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Courts are all a kind of Deacons being to the Presbyters either single or Episcopal as the Levites were to the Sacerdotes in the Old Testament namely to minister unto or for them Thus when we say Bishops Presbyters and Deacons we name but two Orders yet three Degrees These grounds being forelaid and understood I affirm first That Presbyters are by us unnaturally and improperly called Ministers either of the Church or of such or such a Parish we should call them as my Text doth Ministers of God or Ministers of Christ not Ministers of men First Because they are only God's Ministers who sends them but the People's Magistri to teach instruct and oversee them Were it not absurd to call the Shepherd the Sheeps Minister If he be their Minister they surely are his Masters And so indeed the People by occasion of this misappellation think they are ours and use us accordingly Indeed we are called Ministers but never their Ministers but as you see here God's Ministers Christ's Ministers who imployeth us to dispense his Mysteries unto his Church There are Three words in the New Testament translated Minister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●the first is most frequent but not one of them is given to the Apostles