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	court_n	king_n	2,929	5	3.9442	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44196	The judgment of the late Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale, of the nature of true religion, the causes of its corruption, and the churches calamity by mens additions and violences with the desired cure : in three discourses / written by himself at several times ... ; humbly dedicated to the honourable judges and learned lawyers ... by the faithful publisher, Richard Baxter ; to which is annexed the judgment of Sir Francis Bacon ... and somewhat of Dr. Isaack Barrows on the same subject.	Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676.; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.; Barrow, Isaac, 1630-1677.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1684 (1684)	Wing H247; ESTC R11139	41,043	77

them are Holy and Good so yet if Saint John were to indite an Epistle to the Church of England as he did to them of Asia it would sure have the Clause Habeo adversus te pauca And he saith pag. 183. That there should be one Form of Discipline in all Churches and that imposed by necessity of a commandment and prescript out of the word of God It is a matter Volumes have been compiled of and therefore cannot receive a brief redargution I for my part do confess that in revolving the Scriptures I could never find any such thing but that God had left the like liberty to the Church Government to be varied according to the Time and Place and Accidents which nevertheless his high and Divine Providence doth Order and dispose For all Civil Governments are restrained from God unto the General Grounds of Justice and Manners But the Policies and Forms of them are left free So that Monarchies and Kingdoms Senates and Seigniories Popular States and Communalties are lawful and where they are planted ought to be maintained inviolate So likewise in Church matters the Substance of Doctrine is immutable And so are the General Rules of Government But for Rites and Ceremonies and for the particular Hierarchies Policies and Discipline of Churches they be left at large And therefore it is good that we return to the ancient bounds of Unity in the Church of God which was One Faith One Baptism and not One Hierarchy One Discipline And that we observe the League of Christians as it is penned by our Saviour which is in substance of Doctrine this He that is not withus is against us But in things Indifferent and of Circumstance this He that is not against us is with us In these things so as the General rule be observed That Christs flock be fed That there be a succession in Bishops and Ministers which are the Prophets of the New Testament That there be a due and reverent use of the Power of the Keyes That those that preach the Gospel live of the Gospel That all things tend to Edification That all things be done in order and with decency and the like The rest is left to Holy Wisdom and spiritual discretion of the Master-Builder and Inferior Builders in Christs Church As it is excellently alluded by that Father that noted that Christs Garment was without Seam and yet the Churches Garment was of divers Colours And setsdown as a rule In veste varietas sit scissura non sit Pag. 134. For the Government of Bishops I for my part not prejudging the Presidents of other reformed Churches do hold it warranted by the Word of God and by the Practice of the ancient Church in the better times and much more Convenient for Kingdoms than Parity of Ministers and Government by Synods But there be two Circumstances in the Administration of Bishops wherein I confess I could never be satisfyed The One The sole exercise of their Authority The other The Deputation of their Authority For the first The Bishop giveth Orders-alone Excommunicateth alone Judgeth alone This seemeth to be a thing almost without Example in good Government and therefore not unlikely to have crept in in the degenerate and corrupt time We see the greatest Kings and Monarchs have their Councils There is no Temporal Court in England of the higher sort where the Authority doth rest in one person The Kings-Bench the Common-pleas and the Exchequer are Benches of a certain Number of Judges The Chancellor of England hath the Assistance of twelve Masters of the Chancery c. The like is to be found in all well-govern'd Commonwealths abroad where the Jurisdiction is more dispersed As in the Court of Parliament of France and in other places No man will deny but the Acts that passe the Bishops Jurisdiction are of as great importance as those that pass the Civil Courts For mens Souls are more precious than their Bodies or Goods And so are their Good-names Bishops have their infirmities and have no exception from that general Malediction pronounced against all Men living Voe Soli nam si occident c. Nay we see that the first Warrant in Spiritual Causes is directed to a Number Dic Ecclesioe which is not so in Temporal Matters Ab initio non fuit sic For the second Point which is the Deputation of their Authority I see no perfect nor sure ground for that neither Being somewhat different from the Examples and Rules of Government The Bishop exerciseth his Jurisdiction by his Chancellour and Commissary Official c. We see in all Laws in the world Offices of Confidence and Skill cannot be put over and exercised by Deputy except it be specially contained in the Original Grant And in that Case it is dutiful And for experience there was never any Chancellour of England made a Deputy There was never any Judge in any Court made a Deputy The Bishop is a Judge and of a high nature whence cometh it that he should depute Considering that all Trust and Confidence is personal and inherent and cannot nor ought not be transposed Surely in this again Ab initio non fuit fic But it is probable that Bishops when they gave themselves too much to the glory of the world and became Grandees in Kingdoms and great Counsellours to Princes then did they delegate their proper Jurisdictions as things of too inferior Nature for their Greatness And then after the similitude of Kings and Count Palatines they would have their Chancellours and Judges But the Example of Kings and Potentates giveth no good defence For the Reason why Kings administer by their Judges tho' themselves are supream Judges are two The One because the Offices of Kings are for the most part of Inheritance And it is a Rule in all Laws that offices of inheritance are rather matters that ground in Interest than in Confidence for as much as they may fall upon Women upon Infants upon Lunaticks and Idiots Persons uncapable to execute Judicature in person And therefore such Offices by all Laws might ever be exercised and administred by delegation The second reason is because of the Amplitude of their Jurisdictions c. There is a third reason tho' not much to the present purpose that Kings either in respect of the Common-wealth or of the Greatness of their own Patrimonies are usually Parties in Suites And then their Judges stand indifferent between them and their Subjects But in the Case of Bishops none of these Reasons hold For first their Office elective and for life and not patrimonial or hereditary An Office meerly of Confidence Science and Qualification c. See the rest Page 185 186. The Cap and Surplice since they be things in their Nature indifferent and yet by some held Superstitious and that the Question is between Science and Conscience it seemeth to fall within the compass of the Apostles Rule which is that the stronger do descend and yield to the weaker c. lege

man but read those Books whith have slown abroad from either Party he will find it evident in all the Contentions of this nature Witness on the one part Martin Marprelate the Odious Centuries put out by Mr. White in the beginning of the Long Parliament the frequent Invectives and odious Epithets given to Liturgy to the Bishops Conforming Ministers and to the Church of England it self as Antichristian Idolatrous Babylonish and a thousand such Names and Stiles And on the other side there have been many that have not been behind hand with bitter Invectives Scornful and mocking Expressions and Appellations odious Reflections unnecessary to be repeated By all which these two things are evident 1. That these Transports of either side come not from that Spirit which Christ brought with him into the world and which he commended and left to his Disciples and Followers namely a Spirit of Love of Charity of Gentleness Patience Kindness and Sweetness of disposition 2. That if men go about to justifie this because first provoked by the adverse Party and so justifie it by the Law of Taliation these men do not remember that as on the one hand the Duty of Christians is Self-denial Moderation and Peaceableness on the other side that a Spirit of Revenge an Eye for an Eye a Tooth for a Tooth is as much against the Doctrine of Christ as any thing in the world Therefore certainly it becomes those of either Party either to casheer these black Auxiliaries of their Wars and Contentions of this kind or otherwise for the sake and honour of Christ and the Christian Religion plainly declare that he is not concerned in the Contest but that the Contest is a Contest of Interest and Vain-Glory of Pride and Ambition and Reputation and desire of Victory Or if they will not declare so much to the World yet they must give leave to the Spectators to judge of it so Now these bitternesses and virulentnesses of either side have been commonly of two kinds first such as reflect if not all together yet most of all upon the Persons of their Adversaries 2. Or such as reflect only upon the Matters in difference between them both were bad enough and such as serve to make the Differences and Breaches wider But of late times I know not by what unhappy Star there hath prevailed more than formerly certain Invectives that have gone much farther even to the rendring of Religion it self and Scripture Expressions ridiculous and pieces of raillery and I could have wished that some late Books put out under the fashion of Dialogues and some other Books of that kind had not been too Guilty of this fault I do remember when Ben. Johnson made his Play of the Alchymist wherein he brings in Anartas in derision of the persons then called Puritans with many of their Phrases in use among them taken out of the Scriptures with a design to render that sort of persons ridiculous and to gain applause to his wit and fancy But although those persons were not in very good esteem among the Great Ones and Gallants yet the Play was disliked and indeed abhorred because it seemed to reproach Religion it self though intended only to render the Puritans ridiculous That which was uncomely and unseemly in a Poet who made it his business to make Plays certainly is much more fulsom and unsavoury in another especially if the Author be a Clergy -man as I suppose he is for of all men in the world it becomes such prospicere honori Religionis Christianae and not to render it ridiculous and contemptible by raillery and scurrilous jeasting And yet I do not find in all Ben. Johnson's Alchymist one half of those ridiculous and unseemly repetitions of Scripture Phrases and Expressions as well as mimical imitations and disdainful mockings of those Persons and that Party whom he designs to disparage Scarce a Page but some unhandsom mention of the Spirit and Christ and Grace and Saints and some Scripture Expressions And if it shall be said that he doth it but only in exprobration of such persons as abused or misapplyed such expressions and it is not with intent to reproach the Scripture or those Phrases that are desumed from it but to shew the boldness and mistakes of them that have misapplied or abused them I answer That these Misapplications and inconsiderate Uses of Scripture-phrases by them though it be justly reprovable yet it is far more intollerable in him Though their mistakes were weak and foolish yet they were serious in those very mistakes but this man industriously and designedly makes the Expression ridiculous and contemptible 2. Their Abuses of Scriptures and Scripture-phrases will not at all justifie the like in him though in another kind and to another end he might have learned to have avoided the folly and inconsiderateness of the others and not have multitiplied it in himself by a worse Method of abuse Certainly who ever he was that made these Conferences I dare say he hath no such pattern of writing from the Apostles or Fathers The nearest Copy that I know of it is the A and though he seems a man of Wit and Learning and possibly would be some body in the world I dare say they that cherish him in the main of his design are ashamed of his scurrility and wish it had been spared and so perchance may he be when more years have better consideration The mischiefs that come by this manner of writing are very great and many 1. It makes Differences irreconcilable When Differences Civil or Ecclesiastical in Judgment or Practice happen gentleness softness mildness and personal respectfulness quiet the Passions and Spirits of the adverse Party gain upon him get within him and when the person is thus won and over-matched with Sweetness and Kindness and personal Jealousies and Prejudices removed Perswasions and Arguments grow prevalent come with their full weight are entertained calmly and considerately and insensibly gain grounds even upon the judgment But I yet knew any man converted by an angry passionate railing Adversary for such kind of behaviour presently raiseth in the Adversary the like Passions and Prejudice and makes the Distance greater and the Passions being ingaged in the quarrel the Judgments of both sides are lost or blinded or silenced with the dust and noise of passionate digladiations and indeed considering how apparently and evidently such kind of dealing between Dissenters renders composures almost impossible and yet observing how much this course of reviling and opprobrious and unmanly as well as unchristian Language is in practise I thought that it hath been a real design to render each Party odious and irreconcilable to the other and the hopes of composure desperate For who can ever expect that any man or any sort of men should be drawn over to that Party that shall publickly stile him brain-sick a fool silly hypocrite fanatique and a hundred such scornful Appellations or that men will be easily drawn to relinquish