Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	covenant_n	sacrament_n	seal_v	3,518	5	10.1195	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33899	A brief essay concerning the independency of church-power	Collier, Jeremy, 1650-1726.	1692 (1692)	Wing C5244; ESTC R16602	9,933	18

A Brief Essay concerning the INDEPENDENCY OF Church-Power THAT the non-complying Bishops and Clergy were at the Revolution duly authorized in their respective Charges is by none denyed that they have not as yet been deprived by a Synod of Bishops or had any Ecclesiastical Censure passed agâinst them is equally evident For tho' there were some Bishops in the Upper House when the Act of Deprivation passed against their Brethren yet their Votes supposing them Legal were Foreign to their Character and given in virtue of a meerly Civil Capacity they voted not as Bishops but as Lords of Parliament And since the Right by which they sit is a Lay-privilege The Acts which they do in consequence of such a Privilege must be of the same Secular Nature the Case standing thus the Question is Whether an Act of Parliament supposing it legally Constituted can void an Ecclesiastical Authority and unmake the Governors of the Church I shall briefly undertake to maintain the Negative by shewing the Churches Power to be distinct from and independent of the State But to prevent mis-construction I desire to be understood that by Church Power I mean only that which is purely Spiritual And that Ecclesiastics as such can make no direct or indirect claim to any other And therefore First They are no less the Subjects of Princes than the Laity Secondly Their meerly Secular Estates their Civil Privileges and Jurisdictions are all under the Cognizance of the State of which they may be legally though not always equitably disseized whenever the Legislative Authority of a Kingdom shall think fit to do it Having premised this I shall endeavour to prove their Independency in things purely relating to their Function 1. From the Original of Ecclesiastical Authority 2. From the End and Design of it 3. From the Practice of the Primitive Church 1. From the Original of Ecclesiastical Authority The Power of Governing the Church and performing the Offices of Religion is neither any Gift of the People nor held by Commission from Kings and Princes It springs from a greater Original and derives no lower than Heaven it self Our Blessed Saviour who Redeemed the Church was pleased to settle the Administration of it by his own Appointment From Him the Apostles received Authority to teach and govern such as were Converted by them the Words of their Commission are plain and expressed with all imaginable Advantage As my Father hath sent me even so send I you whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted c. St. John 20. 21 23. Upon this Account the Apostles are called the Ambassadors and Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4. 1. And the People are commanded to obey and submit themselves to those who have this Spiritual Authority Heb. 13. 17. Neither was this Power to expire with the Apostles but be conveyed by Succession through all Ages of the World there being the same cause for its Continuance as for its first Institution And accordingly we find from St. Paul that one reason of his giving Titus the Super-intendency of Crete was to Ordain Elders in every City Tit. 1. 5. Thus Clemens Romanus 1. Ep. ad Cor. tells us the Apostles in their Travels used to Ordain Bishops c. for the advantage of such as were only Christians in prospect as well as for those who were already converted And thus the Sacred Order has been continued without interruption for near 1700 Years Now our Saviour we know was no Temporal Prince He refused to interpose in a case of Property and declared expresly that his Kingdom was not of this World St. Luke 12. 14. St. John 18. 36. From whence 't is plain that the Authority which our Saviour gave the Church can have no dependance upon the State because it was never derived from thence 'T is true all Power both Sacred and Civil came originally from God yet under the Jewish and especially under the Christian Institution the Crown and Mitre have been divided And tho' the same Persons are capable of both yet the Claim must be made upon a different Account and conveyed by Titles perfectly distinct And since the Ecclesiastical Authority doth not hold of the Civil Magistrate it cannot be forfeited to Him As the State cannot Consecrate Bishops and Priests so neither can they recal their Character or restrain them in the Exercise of their Function there being no reason a Privilege should be either extinguished or limited by those who were never Masters of the Grant For what a Man has no Power to give he can have no Right to take away This will further appear if we consider the Means by which the Advantages of Christianity are conveyed to us Now that the Sacraments are necessary for this purpose is evident from Scripture For concerning Baptism 't is said That except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God St. John 3. 5. And the Lord's Supper is stiled by St. Paul 1 Cor. 10. 6. The Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ that is the Means by which the Benefits of Christ's Death are applyed to us So that without being partakers of the Sacraments we can have no pretence to the Covenant of Grace no Title to the Assistance of God's Spirit nor any Assurance of a Blessed Immortality Now I suppose none of the Laity will pretend to an Authority to Administer the Sacraments They will not challenge a Right to Seal Covenants in God's Name or to represent Him in Acts of Solemn Blessing and Absolution No Man as the Apostle argues ought to take this Honour to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Heb. 5. 4. The Fate of Corah and Uzziah Numb 16. 2. Chron. 26. are sufficient to deter all Secular Persons from an Encroachment of this Nature which if made God would both punish the Usurpation and null the Act As a Prince would be obliged to do in point of Government if any Person should forge a Commission in his Name Now since the Sacraments which are both necessary to make us Members of the Church and to convey the Advantages of Christianity to us are by our Saviours special Appointment entrusted with the Clergy and the Administration of them is lodged in their Hands from hence it follows that those who have the sole Right of Admitting into a Society or Excluding from it and of dispensing the Rewards and Punishments are the proper and only Governors of that Society and can have no Dependance upon any other Secondly The Independency of Ecclesiastical Authority may be proved from the End and Design of it I suppose I need not prove that the Christian Religion as contained in the New Testament is the last Revelation which God intends to make to the World Now this being granted we must suppose that our Blessed Saviour Founded his Church upon such Laws and gave it such lasting Principles of Government as should best maintain its Continuance and secure those important Truths He