Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A50109
|
The spiritual house in its foundation, materials, officers, and discipline describ'd the nomothetical & coercive power of the King in ecclesiastical affairs asserted the episcopal office and dignity, together with the liturgy of the Church of England vindicated in some sermons preached at St. Clement Danes and St. Gregories neer St. Pauls, London / by Geo. Masterson.
|
Masterson, Geo. (George)
|
1661
(1661)
|
Wing M1073; ESTC R30518
|
52,267
|
136
|
Congregation of Christians in all the World hath received and embraced the Episcopacy we contend for To this all the Fathers without exception of any one bear witness He among them who ascribes least to Episcopacy St. Jerom who was not a Bishop but a Presbyter of an inferiour Order whose Testimony therefore may stand in stead of many saith In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus caeteris superponeretur ad quem omnis cura Ecclesiae pertineret It is universally decreed that one chosen from among the Presbyters should be set over the rest to whom the whole care of the Church should appertain And that this was the universal Custom of the Church appears by this because those Hereticks who made a separation from the Church Catholick did yet retain this Order among them Thus the Authour of the Homilies upon St. Matthew Hereticks in their Schism have all those things among them which are proper to the true Church Similiter Ecclesias similiter Scripturas similiter Episcopos caeterosque Clericorum ordines They have their Congregations Scriptures Bishops and other Orders of the Clergy as the Church hath Aerius indeed in a Pang of indignation because he missed a Bishoprick which he stood for would have made himself equal to the Reverend Bishops by broaching this Doctrine Presbyterum ab Episcopo nulla differentia discerni debere That a Presbyter ought not to be distinguished by any difference from a Bishop but this errour of his was condemned by the whole Church When one wrote to St. Jerom Nihil interest inter Episcopum Presbyterum There is no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter he reproved him sharply in the Answer which he returned Hoc satis imperite This was not said for want of ignorance In portu ut dicitur naufragium you make shipwrack as they say Proverbially in the Haven Thirdly The Episcopacy under our present consideration is of venerable Antiquity in the Church having it's rise in the Apostles time In proof of which we can have no better Evidence then the Catalogue of Bishops in Irenaeus Eusebius Socrates and Theodoret who begin from the Age in which the Apostles lived Now no man can deny his assent to such Grave Authority so unanimously conspiring in matter of fact without incurring the guilt of singular irreverence and pertinacy It is as if one should deny that which all the Roman Histories affirm that the Consulship of Rome began from the Banishment of the Tarquins Will you hear St. Jerom Alexandriae a Marco Evangelista Presbyteri unum semper ex se electum in celsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant Ep. 85. The Presbyters of Alexandria ever since St. Mark the Evangelist having chosen one from among themselves and exalting him to an higher place stiled him Bishop St. Mark died in the eighth year of Nero about the year of our Lord 62. whose Successour St. John the Apostle yet living was Amianus to him succeeded Abilius to Abilius Cerdo After the Death of St. James Simon succeeded him in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem After St. Peter's departure Linus Anacletus and Clement or as some St. Peter yet living sate in the Episcopal Chair at Rome as Evodius and Ignatius did at Antioch A Record of such Antiquity confirmed by Ignatius the Disciple of St. John cannot be rejected by any save such onely who have no Faith for any thing that themselves saw not Who may as well deny that ever there was a Philip of Spain or Lewis of France or Henry King of England as that the persons before mentioned were Bishops of their respective Sees Fourthly The Episcopacy we intend is approved by Divine Right or as Bucer expresseth it Visum Spiritui Sancto utinter Presbyteros unus cur am singularem gereret It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost that one among the Presbyters should have the especial care of the Church Of this we have an undeniable Argument in the book of the Revelations where we find Christ from Heaven commanding St. John to write unto the seven Angels of the Churches of Asia The Title of Angel may I acknowledg be applyed in a general signification to every particular Pastour or Presbyter But here it is manifest Christ intends one in each Church onely whom he stiles the Angel in a proper and peculiar sence For It is no ways probable that Churches so large of such vast extent as Ephesus Smyrna and the rest were had but one Pastour or Presbyter in each of them Nay it is certain and evident concerning Ephesus that in the days of St Paul there were many Presbyters ordained or constituted to feed the Church of God Acts 20.17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church and said unto them verse 28. Take heed unto your selves and to all the flock c. to feed the Church of God And we may as rationally conclude concerning the rest that there were many Pastours in each Church Why then should Christ direct his Epistle to one the Angel if there had not been one among them of a Superiour Function and more eminent Dignity Sub Angeli nomine saith St. Augustine Epist 162. laudatur praepositus Ecclesiae Under the name of the Angel he commends the Prefect of the Church Angelos Ecclesiis Praesidentes dixit Hierom By Angels he understands the Presidents of the Churches And for Smyrna Polycarpus was without controversie Bishop of it ordained by St. John as Bullinger himself acknowledgeth and Irenaeus saith of him l. 3. c. 3. Polycarpus non solum ab Apostolis eruditus c. Polycarp was not onely instructed by the Apostles and conversant with divers of those persons who saw our Lord in the flesh but in Asia he was constituted by the Apostles Bishop of the Church of Smyrna whom I saw saith the Father while I was a young man I wholly wave many other Evidences and descend to a late Protestant Writer Marlorat in locum St. John saith he mentions first the Church of Ephesus in respect of the dignity of the place Nec populum aggreditur sed Principem Cleri utique Episcopum And he doth not apply himself to the people but to the Principal of the Clergy to wit the Bishop And because the Authority of Mr. Beza and Doctour Reinolds may possibly go furthest with those who have no great friendship for the Episcopal Dignity let us in the Point in hand hear them To the Angel saith Beza id est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quem nimirum oportuit inprimis de his rebus admoneri ac per eum caeteros collegas totamque adeo Ecclesiam That is the President who first ought to be admonished and by him his Colleagues and so the whole Church Reinolds in his Conference with Hart c. 8. Sect. 3. saith Though there were in the Church of Ephesus many Presbyters and Pastours to Administer to that Church yet there was one ever those many whom our Saviour stiles the
inscription is stiled Religionis Fidei Auctor The Increaser of Faith and Religion And Basilius the Emperour speaking of the Church as a Ship Ejus sibi gvbernacula ait a Deo concredita Saith that God hath committed the Sterage or Goverment of it to him And there is an Ancient Epistle of Elutherius Bishop of Rome in which he stiles the King of England vicarium Dei in regno suo agens de negotio Religionis Gods vicar for the management of the business of Religion in his Kingdome and the first Moguntine Councel calls Charles the Great Vere Religionis Rectorem the Rector of the True Religion and as they of old so the Reformed Churches of late were of the same perswasion in this particular As it appears by their respective confessions Magistratum est non modo de civili politia esse sollicitos verum etiam dare operam ut Sacrum Ministerium conservetur Christique Regnum propagetur denique horum est efficere ut Sacrum Evangelii verbum undique praedicetur ut singuli purae Deum colere venerari ex praescripto verbi ipsius libere possint Belgica It is the Magistrates Duty not only to be careful for the Civil Politie but to endeavour likewise that the Sacred Ministry be Preserved and the Kingdom of Christ Propagated It is his duty finally to see that the Holy Gospel be every where Preached and that all persons may purely and freely worship and serve God according to his word And so the latter Helvetian Confession Teneat ipse Magistratus in manibus verbum Dei ne huic contrarium doceatur procuret bonis legibus ad verbum Dei compositis moderetur populum sibi a Deo concreditum Let the Magistrate take into his hands the World of God and take care nothing be taught contrary to it And let him Govern the people committed to him of God by good and wholesome Lawes according to the word of God And the Confession of Basil waving some others Quilibet Christianus Magistratus omnes vires eo diriget ut apud fidei suae commissos nomen Dei sanctificetur regnum ipsius propagetur ipsiusque voluntati cum seria extirpatione scelerum vivatur Hoc officium gentili Magisiratui injunctum fuit quanto magis Christiano Magistratui commendatum esse debeat ut vero Dei vicario It ought to be the Serious Endeavour of every Christian Magistrate that the name of God be Hallowed and his Kingdom Propogated among those who are commited to his Trust and that they live denying all ungodliness according to his Will This was a Duty incumbent on the Heathen Magistrate how much more ought it to be commended to the Christian Magistrate as the True Vicar of Christ Or Church of England deems those worthy of Excommunication who deny unto our Kings the same Power and Authority in Ecclesiastical Causes that the Pious Kings of the Hebrews Exercised in the Church of the Jewes Canon the 2d And here we must necessarily enquire how far the Authority of the King Extends in matters of Religion whether we are to obey him in every thing he commands without exception or but in some things only We do not believe the Authority of the King Extends so far as Bellarmine stretcheth the Popes when he saith Si papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas de Rom. pont l. 4. c. 5. If the Pope should erre in commanding Vice and forbidding Vertue the Church is obliged to believe that Vice is good and Vertue is evil We extend not the power of the King as certain Religious Persons who left it as a Rule to their confidents at Padova 1606. did the Popes authority Si quod occulis nostris album apparet nigrum ille esse definierit debemus itidem quod nigrum sit pronuntiare If that which in our eye is white be defin'd by the Pope to be black we ought also to say that it is black But this we say our obedience is required to all his commands that are not repugnant to the law of nature or contrary to the Express Word of God If he command any thing forbidden by the Law of Nature or by any Positive Law of God that is now obliging to Christians or if he forbid any thing Commanded of God we are not to yield obedience For as in nature inferiour causes depending in point of activity upon Superiour have no power of acting contrary to the efficacy of the Superiour So in morality as St. August Si aliud Imperator aliud jubeat Deus quid judicatur major poteâ—tas Deus da veniam O Imperator de verb. Dom Sec Mat Serm 6 Where the Emperors and Gods Commands are one contrary to the other what Judgement shall I make the power of God is Supream the Emperour therefore must be supplicated to pardon me If the King Command any thing that God forbids or forbid any thing that God Commands in both these cases we must then fortifie our selves with the saying of St Peter and the other Apostles We ought to obey God rather then men Acts 5 29 And God having by nature prohibited the killing of an Innocent person the Hebrew Midwives are commended for not obeying the Kings commandement concerning the killing of the male children But the Midwives feared God saith the Text and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them Exod 1 17. Whatever a commandement of God makes necessary no humane authority can render not necessary or obliging and therefore it is usually said that the Gospel Ministry and Sacraments are not subject to any humane Authority that is in point of changing or altering that in them which is of Divine Institution For what God hath Determined Affirmatively or Negatively man cannot determine the contrary But in things not determined by God as Time Place and manner of performing actions commanded by God the King by his Authority may determine these Though the King cannot Prohibite an Holy Harmless rightly constituted Ministry the Preaching of the Word or Administring the Sacrament according to the form of Divine Institution yet he may require them to preach at such times and in such places only he may prescribe them the habit in which they shall Officiate by Vertue of that Apostolicall Precept Let all things be done Decently and in Order 1 Cor. 14. ult This Rule is so equitable that all men will yield their assent That all things in the Worship of God ought to be done Decently and in Order But what is Decent and Orderly is not so soon agreed For that saith one which you call Decent is in my Opinion the most unseemly thing in the world And that is most disorderly in my Judgement which you account Regularly performed and in Order There must therefore be some proper Judge agreed upon to Determine what is Decent and in Order Do you then Judge in your selves laying only your Prejudice and