Selected quad for the lemma: law_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A50109
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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.
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Masterson, Geo. (George)
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1661
(1661)
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Wing M1073; ESTC R30518
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52,267
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136
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Passion aside whether a Noble Man or Master of a Great Family leaving this general Rule for the Government of his house that all things in it be done Decently and in Order doth he not intend and expect that his Steward should Determine what is so For either the Steward or the rest of the Servants must determine it If the Servants confusion and ataxy instead of Decency and Order must inavoidable flow in upon them For one will say this is decent and another the contrary is decent It is more decent saith one to put off our shoes then our hats in Respect and Reverence to our Lord it is more orderly to sit then to stand in his presence This must necessarily beget Partyes and Sidings that Animosity Strife and Contention and by consequence the ruine of the Family For why will one servant in the Family or one party say should not I or we judge of decency as well as you or your party So that you cannot but see that there is a necessity that the Steward should Determine And is it not thus in the Spiritual house If every Congregation or Pastor be left free to judge of what is Decent and in Order things as unreasonable as the putting off the shoes and sitting in the Masters presence will be practised by the most Because the most are not the wisest And they affect generally like Cattle fallen into a River to Swim against the Stream In things therefore of this nature namely such as are not determined by the great Master God you owe obedience to the Stewards determination especially since whatsoever is not forbidden by God hath in that very respect the force of a permission at least Because Where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 Now there is no Law against such or such indifferent things and therefore he who conforms sins not But there is a Law which requires Every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers Rom. 13.1 He therefore that conforms not sins You ought therefore to be subject to the Higher Power in matters of Religion for Conscience Sake But if any man will not be subject for Conscience Sake he must be subject upon another account for God hath entrusted the Supreme Magistrate with a Coercive Power Which is the 2d thing propounded to be made good In pursuance of this 2. thing 1. There ought to be some Coercive Power in Ecclesiasticall Things or Matters of Religion For without this every man would be left free to speak or do what him lift To introduce any false or blasphemous Opinion to disturb the Peace of the Church by enormous Practices May not one deny the Divine Authority of the Scriptures Another the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ A third reject despise and trample under foot the Priestly Office and all the Ordinances of the Gospell And for practice might not men with the evill Servant in the Gospell eat and drink with the drunken and smite their fellow Servants with the Fist of Violence Oppressing and Persecuting all that are not of their Opinion though their Opinion be not at any agreement or consistency with the truth If there be not a Coercive Power stated somewhere who or what shall hinder these and innumerable other inconveniences and mischiefs Every Fanatick Spirit if there were no coercive power might take licence by reviving old Heresies or broaching worse new invented Opinions to ruffle the Church and reduce it to an Heap or Chaos of Confusion Without a coercive power somewhere stated all Reins of Government must necessarily be let loose and an effectuall dore set open for Atheisme Heresy Sedition and Blasphemy to enter in But this is a thing so contrary not only to the peace but even to the essence of all societies that none but the absolute Sons of Belial i. e. without a Yoke can plead for it I passe therefore from that as a thing assented unto by all that pretend to Reason That there must be a Coercive Power and come unto the 2d thing the subject of this Power or Person in whom it is And that is the King 2. Him hath God entrusted with coercive Power in Matters of Religion Spirituall Power or Power in the Church is divided generally into Ordinis and Jurisdictionis That of Order is referr'd to the preaching or the Word Administration of Sacraments Absolution Confirmation and all such Actions as a person regularly ordained performes by Virtue of his Orders That of Jurisdiction is double Internall and Externall 1. Internall Where the Spirituall guides they who have the conduct of the Soules of men by Instruction Perswasion Ghostly Councell and such like so convince the inward Consciences of Men that they become wholly obedient to their directions As Saint Peter by his Sermon wrought upon the Consciences of those Jews Who were pricked in their Heart and said Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2.37 2. Externall Where the Person in whom the Power is in foro exteriori as they speak compells the Christians obedience The King is not intrusted with the first and 2d of these He hath no Power of Order nor Jurisdiction over the Inner Man but in things that are for the outward Politie of the Church as that God may be truly served such as transgresse the received lawfull constitutions of the Church punished with this Power the King is intrusted Again the Actions of Men are either Internall or Externall Internall Actions abstractedly and simply considereed in themselves doe not fall under any humane Authority or Power whatsoever Errat si quis putet servitutem in totum hominem descendere pars enim melior excepta est Corpora obnoxia sunt adscripta Dominis mens sui juris est Sen. de Benef. l. 3. It is an Errour in any man to think that Servitude descends upon the whole man for the better part is alwayes excepted Our bodies indeed are Obnoxnious to Servitude and the pleasure of those who are Lords over us but our minds are free and at their own dispose And it is a known saying in the Law Cogitationis paenam nemo patitur No man suffers any thing for his bare thoughts For All Empire or Power necessarily supposeth such matter as is capable of coming under the knowledge of him that commands but the internall Actions of Men Simply and Abstractedly considered doe not come under the knowledge of any Humane Power and therefore they fall not under their Authority No power can impose upon any person that he shall think thus and not otherwise concerning any Article of Faith because he cannot know whether a man thinks so or otherwise As Lactantius l. 5. c. 13. Quis mihi imponat necessitatem vel credendi quod nolim vel quod velim non credendi Who can compell me to believe what I will not or not to believe what I list For Religio imperari non potest Religion cannot be compell'd as Cassidor l. 3. Ep. 27. and Fides