Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	church_n	succession_n	2,569	5	10.4652	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30625	A treatise of church-government occasion'd by some letters lately printed concerning the same subject / by Robert Burscough ...	Burscough, Robert, 1651-1709.	1692 (1692)	Wing B6137; ESTC R2297	142,067	330

Baume in the Bishoprick of Geneva and that Luther and Melancthon were Spiritual Princes of the Empire and Electors of Germany We are now almost at twice the distance from the beginning of Luther's Reformation as Tertullian was from the days of the Apostles And we are more remote from the coming of King James the First to the Crown of England than Irenaeus was from the death of S. John when he argued against the Valentinians from the Succession of Bishops to the Apostles in the Government of the Churches And what he said of it must then have appear'd either so palpably false that it would have expos'd him and his Cause to derision or so evidently true that your Exceptions against it would at that time have been to the same effect as if a Dissenter should now declare That the Conformists had in this last Age introduced several Corruptions into the Church and Episcopacy amongst the rest That in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth all the Ministers in the Kingdom were equal but after her decease the Defection began and was afterwards gradually carried on till the Prelats arriv'd at their present Greatness That one need but some Experience in the use of things and a little proportion of mother wit to discover this and to make a clear and distinct conception of it That however the Bishops might pretend that they had Predecessors in the last Century and produce for it the Testimony of many Authors yet those Authors were tainted with partial humours and there were Fob Traditions passed for current in their time so that we are under no obligation to believe them And now Sir I leave you to judge whether a person that should discourse seriously in such a manner were fit to be argued with or to be managed another way according to the Rules of Art You have another Bold Stroke yet remaining which is that the Catalogues of Bishops deduced from the Apostles for ought you see deserves but little more credit as being but little better ascertain'd than the Catalogues of the British Kings deduced from Brute And this falls heavy upon S. Jerom as well as others for he approv'd such Catalogues and hath helpt to convey them to Posterity When you press'd him into your service you made honourable mention of him under the Titles of Pious and Learned of which he must make a forfeiture when he stands in your way and though he only confirms by his own suffrage what was generally believ'd in former Ages yet in that c●…se for ought you see his word deserves little more Credit than the most absurd or groundless Fables For such are the Stories of Brute and the Kings of his Line They have no foundation in any Ancient History or Authentick Records but about two thousand years after the time of Brute's reputed Landing at Totness they were first publish'd to the World He that gave the first reputation to them was Geoffrey of Monmouth who is call'd by one of our Antiquaries the English Homer and the Father of Lies And as for his Brutus some have observ'd as Mr. Camden acquaints us that he was never hoard of till in a Barbarous Age one Hunibald a foolish Writer feign'd that Francion a Son of Priamus was the Founder of the French Nation But then a report was rais'd that our Country-men were descended from the Trojans and our Princes from this Brutus who was said to be the Son of Sylvius and Grand-Son of Aeneas and 't is no wonder that in the times of the thickest ignorance a fiction so agreeable was entertain'd and propagated amongst our Ancestors who disdain'd that their Neighbours should excel them in extraction whom they equal'd in courage And now if any shall affirm that as much or near as much may be said against the Testimonies of the Fathers asserting the Succession of Bishops to the Apostles I must beg your excuse if I tell him in the words of a late Author for whom I know you have some fondness that he has not wip'd his eyes but is moist with prejudice and passion It is not any want of clearness or strength in the Testimony which the Fathers give concerning the Original of Episcopacy that drew from you the odious Reflections which you cast on them but the force there is in it to demonstrate that the Strokes and Lineaments of your Scheme of Church-Government are meerly the work of Fancy and that you have employ'd your Pen in the service of a bad Cause This appears from what has been said already and I shall here add nothing more to confirm it but one Instance which I think I may safely oppose against all that ever was written for the Presbyterian Equality of Ministers from the days of Aerius to this very moment The Instance I intend is that of Polycarp who is not only said to have been Bishop of Smyrna by Polycrates and Tertullian who flourish'd not long after him and by Eusebius Jerom Socrates Sozomen Victor Capuanus Suidas and many others who liv'd at a greater distance from him but by such as knew him and could not be ignorant of his Character There were many that had the advantage of his Ministry Many that had liv'd under his Government in the Church of Smyrna and were Eye-witnesses of his Martyrdom who expresly declare that he was their Bishop This they do in an Epistle which is yet extant and which the famous Joseph Scaliger Critical as he was so highly approv'd and valu'd that he reckons it amongst the Noblest Monuments of Christian Antiquity and professes that he could not read it without something of Extasie S. Irenaeus who was his Scholar informs us likewise that he was Bishop of Smyrna And the same is attested by S. Ignatius who was not only his Contemporary but his Friend as also by Philo and Agathopus who acquaint us further that Ignatius on whom they attended being in his way to Rome where he was about to be torn in pieces by Wild Beasts for the Christian Faith paid a Visit to Polycarp at Smyrna and that both these Excellent Men had been train'd up under the same Master and were the Disciples of S. John But if S. Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna he was not the only Minister there for he begins his Epistle to the Philippians thus Polycarp and the Presbyters that are with him And from these Presbyters he had no reason to distinguish himself as he does if both of them had born the same Office But in what manner he stood related to them may appear from hence that there was not one of all the Ancients I have cited to prove that he was a Bishop who meant not that he was a Prelate And if enquiry be made how he obtain'd his Office from Tertullian and Jerom and many others we learn that it was convey'd to him by S. John But S. John it seems was not alone in that

these to the People And thus when the abolishing of the Episcopal Government with all its dependences Root and Branch was in agitation Mr. Nathaniel Fiennes objected against the Bishops That by their Power over other Ministers who had an influence upon the People they might mould them both according to their own wills and having put out our eyes says he as the Philistins did Sampson 's they may afterwards make us grind and reduce us to what slavery they please A dreadful thing indeed had there been any foundation for the apprehension of it But if such Fantômes as may at any time be rais'd by Art or the Strength of Imagination and have nothing in them of Substance or Reality be sufficient to disquiet us we are like to enjoy but little rest And to come nearer to the purpose If a meer possibility of doing hurt be so dangerous and formidable to Princes This would be enough to create in them frightful Idea's of their Guards and their Armies and of all that are about them and render them at last like Pashur a Terror to themselves He could not but see that a meer Capacity in the Clergy of conveying Malignity was not sufficient to make them Enemies to the State and he pretends that they have been actually guilty of a most notorious defection from their Duty to the Civil Magistrate and that it has been found by Experience not only that there never was but that there never can be in the World a thing more dangerous to any Government than the National Hierarchy An Accusation that sounds very harsh and runs high not against a few single persons only but a considerable Society But he hath not told us in what Instance they were liable to it or when it was they became so criminal It is certain that in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth they could not deserve so hateful a Character For Jealous as She was of her Glory She could not find that it was eclips'd by them But She did perceive how necessary it was to check and repress the Attempts against them and was sensible as Mr. Camden acquaints us that her own Authority was struck at through the sides of the Bishops As this Admirable Princess penetrated into the Secrets of Foreign Courts so She perfectly understood the Interests of her own Kingdoms And if any would know what She thought of some fiery Zealots of those Times who spent their Heats in opposing Episcopacy and the Liturgy it may be seen in Serjeant Puckering's Speech recorded by Sr. William Dugdale for it is made by Her Command Her Successor King James could never discover that nothing could be more dangerous to him than the National Hierarchy He always believ'd that Episcopacy was of Divine Institution and as he found it establish'd here to his great satisfaction so he never saw cause to repent of his defence of it and the Privileges annex'd to it How well he approv'd the Constitution of the Church of England may appear from hence that in his Speech in the Star-Chamber he affirm'd That of any Church that ever he read or knew of present or past he thought in his Conscience This was the most pure and nearest the Primitive and Apostolical Church in Doctrine and Discipline and the sureliest founded on the Word of God of any Church in Christendom At the same time he complain'd of the Contempt that was cast on a Church so Reform'd and the Governours thereof and looking on it as a sign of Impending Judgments he says God will not bless us and our Laws if we do not reverence and obey Gods Law which cannot be except the Interpreters of it be respected and reverenced Such a regard He had for them from a Principle of Religion and their Fidelity to Him was answerable to it and contributed not a little to the Safety of his Person the Support of the Throne and the Welfare of the Nation But as for the many Dangers to which he was expos'd they arose from other Quarters They either proceeded from the Conspiracies of Papists whose Principles he examin'd and confuted that neither the Subversion of States nor the Murthers of Kings should have free passage in the World for want of timely Advertisement or from the Practices of another sort of persons whom he calls the very Pests in the Church and Common-wealth and by whom as he declares to all Christian Monarchs Free Princes and States he was persecuted not from his Birth only but four Months before his Birth In the Reign of King Charles the First the Clergy were not wanting in their demonstrations of Loyalty as we all know and they felt Yet I grant that some had discours'd before his Majesty that Episcopacy as claim'd and exercis'd within this Realm was not a little derogatory to the Regal Authority as well in the Point of Supremacy as Prerogative in the one by claiming the Function as by a Divine Right in the other by exercising the Jurisdiction in their own Names But on that occasion He told Dr. Sanderson that he did not believe the Church-Government as by Law establish'd was in either of the aforesaid respects or any other way prejudicial to his Crown Nevertheless he requir'd that Learned Man from whom I borrow'd this Relation to draw up an Answer to those two Objections for the satisfaction of others which he did accordingly And I shall only crave leave to transcribe from him the following words which he uses near the Conclusion of his Treatise By this time says he I doubt not all that are not wilfully blind do see and understand by sad experience that it had been far better both with King and Kingdom than now it is or is like to be in haste if the Enemies of Episcopacy had meant no worse to the King and his Crown than the Bishops and those that favour'd them did I shall not further exercise your patience in going about to prove that the Clergy were faithful to the Crown in the Reign of King Charles the Second You may well enough remember what King James the Second acknowledged that the Church of England had been eminently Loyal in the defence of his Father and support of his Brother in the worst of Times But that our Church-men have since revolted from their Principles which were then said to be for Monarchy I do not understand Nor was our Author willing in plain terms to inform us when it was that they became such Examples of Malignity lest the Calumny might easily be detected Yet Obscure as he is he hath left us a Key to his meaning for he intimates that they have been found to be dangerous by fresh experience when they were not in the Measures and Interests of the Government respecting doubtless the late Times before the great Revolution And so the Secret comes out which was at the bottom and rais'd his Indignation In the Opinion you see of this Gentleman the Clergy were