Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	bind_v	key_n	loose_v	3,794	5	10.2737	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74667	An answer to Monsieur de la Militiere his impertinent dedication of his imaginary triumph, to the king of Great Britain to invite him to embrace the Roman Catholick religion. / By John Bramhall D.D. and Lord Bishop of London-Derry.	Bramhall, John, 1594-1663.; La Milletière, Théophile Brachet, sieur de, ca. 1596-1665. Victory of truth for the peace of the Church.	1653 (1653)	Thomason E1542_1	53,892	235

of obedience upon those who are under their charge If these last shall transgress the rule of the Law they are not accomptable to their Inferiours but to him or them that have the Soveraign power of Legislative Judicature Ejus est legem interpretari cujus est condere To apply this to the case in Question concerning the exposition of the holy Scripture Every Christian keeping himself within the bounds of due obedience and submission to his lawfull Superiours hath a Judgement of Discretion Prove all things 1 Thes 5.21 hold fast that which is good He may apply the Rule of holy Scripture for his own private Instruction comfort edification and direction and for the framing of his life and belief accordingly The Pastors of the Church who are placed over Gods people as watchmen and guides have more than this a judgement of Direction to expound and interpret the holy Scriptures to others out of them to instruct the ignorant to reduce them who wander out of the right way to confute errors to foretell dangers and to draw sinners to repentance The chief Pastors to whose care the Regiment of the Church is committed in a more speciall manner have yet an higher degree of judgement a Judgement of Jurisdiction to prescribe to enjoyn to constitute to reform to censure to condemn to bind to loose judicially authoritatively in their respective charges If their Key shall erre either their Key of Knowledge or their Key of Jurisdiction they are accomptable to their respective Superiours and in the last place to a generall Councill which under Christ upon Earth is the highest Judge of Controversies Thus we have seen what is the Rule of Faith and by whom and how far respectively this rule is to be applied Thirdly The manner of expounding Scripture for the manner of expounding holy Scriptures for there may be a privacy in this also and more dangerous than the privacy of the person many things are necessary to the right interpretation of the Law to understand the reason of it the precedents the terms the forms the Reports and an ability to compare Law with Law He that wants all these Qualifications altogether is no interpreter of Law He that wants but some of them or wants the perfection of them by how much the greater is his defect by so much the less valuable is his exposition And if he shall out of private fancy or blind presumption arrogate to himself without these requisite means or above his capacity and proportion of Knowledge a power of expounding Law he is a mad-man So many things are required to render a man capable to expound holy Scriptures some more necessarily some less some absolutely some respectively As first to know the right Analogy of Faith to which all interpretations of Scripture must be of necessity conformed Secondly to know the practise and tradition of the Church and the received expositions of former Interpreters in the successive ages which gives a great light to the finding out of the right sense Thirdly to be able to compare Texts with Texts Antecedents with Consequents without which one can hardly attain to the drift and scope of the holy Ghost in the obscurer passages And lastly it is something to know the Idiotisms of that language wherein the Scriptures were written He that wants all these requisites and yet takes upon him out of a phanatique presumption of private illumination to interpret Scripture is a doting Enthusiast fitter to be refuted with Scorn than with Arguments He that presumes above that degree and proportion which he hath in these means and above the talent which God hath given him as he that hath a little Language yet wants Logick or having both Language and Logick knows not or regards not either the Judgement of former expositors or the practise and tradition of the purest primitive ages or the Symbolicall faith of the Catholick Church is not a likely work-man to build a Temple to the Lord but ruine and destruction to himself and his seduced followers A new Physician we say requires a new Church-yard But such bold ignorant Empericks in Theology are ten times more dangerous to the Soul than an ungrounded unexperienced Quacksalver to the body This hath alwayes been the doctrine This is conformable to the doctrine and practise of our Church and the practice of our English Church First it is so far from admitting laymen to be directive Interpreters of holy Scripture that it allows not this Liberty to Clergy-men so much as to gloss upon the Text Can. 1603. Can. 49. untill they be Licenced to become Preachers Secondly for Judgement of Discretion only it gives it not to private persons above their Talents See the Preface to the Bishops Bible or beyond their last It disallows all phantasticall and Enthusiasticall presumption of incompetent and unqualified expositors It admits no man into holy Orders that is to be capable of being made a Directive interpreter of Scriptures howsoever otherwise qualified Cant. ●4 unless he be able to give a good accompt of his faith in the Latin tongue so as to be able to frame all his expositions according to the Analogy thereof Cant. 1571. tit Concionatores It forbids the Licenced Preachers to teach the people any doctrine as necessary to be religiously held and believed which the Catholique Fathers and old Bishops of the Primitive Church have not collected out of the Scriptures It ascribes a Judgement of Jurisdiction over Preachers to Bishops in all manner of Ecclesiasticall duties as appears by the whole body of our Canons And especially where any difference or publick Opposition hath been between Preachers Can. 1631. Can. 53. about any point or doctrine deduced out of Scripture It gives a power of determining all emergent Controversies of faith above Bishops to the Church Art 20. Can. 1603. Can. 139. as to the witness and keeper of the Sacred Oracles And to a lawfull Synod as the representative Church Now Sir be your own Judge how infinitely you have wronged us and your self more suggesting that temerariously and without the Sphere of your knowledge to his Majesty for the principall ground of our Reformation which our souls abhor Is there no mean between stupidity and madness Must either all things be lawfull for private persons or nothing Because we would not have them like Davids Horse and Mule without understanding do we therefore put both Swords in their hands to reform and cut off to plant and to pluck up to alter and abolish at their pleasure We allow them Christian liberty but would not have them Libertines Admit some have abused this just liberty may we therefore take it away from others So we shall leave neither a Sun in Heaven nor any excellent creature upon Earth for all have been abused by some persons in some kinds at some times We receive not your upstart supposititious traditions The English Church an enemy to upstart not