Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	aaron_n	age_n	numb_a	60	3	9.5995	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64635	Certain discourses, viz. of Babylon (Rev. 18. 4.) being the present See of Rome (with a sermon of Bishop Bedels upon the same words) of laying on of hands (Heb. 6. 2.) to be an ordained ministry, of the old form of words in ordination, of a set form of prayer : each being the judgment of the late Arch-bishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland / published and enlarged by Nicholas Bernard ... : unto which is added a character of Bishop Bedel, and an answer to Mr. Pierces fifth letter concerning the late Primate.	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Bedell, William, 1571-1642.; Bernard, Nicholas, d. 1661.	1659 (1659)	Wing U161; ESTC R10033	109,687	392

ensuing which could not make served onely to declare men innocent p. 108. When any of ours ascribeth the work of remission to God and interprets the Priests sentence to be but a solemn declaration of that which God himselfe hath already performed they i. e. the Church of Rome scorne it And so after much to this purpofe he thus concludes p. 113. Let it suffice to have shewen how God alone doth truly give and private Ministerial absolution but declare remission of sinnes And thus I leave Mr. Hooker under Doctor Heylen ' s Censure who hath already concluded that forgivenesse of sins by the Priest onely declarativè doth not come up to the doctrine of the Church of England Though the reason he gives because it holds the Priest doth forgive sins authoritativè I do not see the force of The former supposing the latter for the Officer whose place it is solemnly to make Proclamation of the Kings pardon doth it authoritativè nay dares not do it unlesse he were authorized accordingly And so much for the Primates judgement of those words of Ordination Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest are forgiven whose sins thou retainest are retained The PRIMATES judgment of the Vse of a set Form of Prayer heretofore declared and now more fully enlarged and confirmed with the concurrence of the Votes of such eminent persons who are so esteemed by the contrary-minded THis Subject hath been so sufficiently discussed and determined by others that no new thing can be expected from me onely you have here the Iudgement and Approbation of this eminent Primate which being of so great esteem with all good men 't is possible now upon near an even scale of mens opinions in it his may be of that weight as to give satisfaction First that the Vse of a set Form of Prayer is not a setting up of any new doctrine as the Athenians judged of Saint Paul appeares in that 't is the practise of the Belgick Churches for which ye have the determination of the Divines of Leyden Polyander Rivetus Wala'us Thysius in their Synopsis Theologiae And the resolution of Mr. Aimes our countryman who lived and died a Professor of Divinity among them in his cases of conscience who saith 't is lawfull from the approved practice of the Saints in the Psalmes and other Formes of blessing in the Scripture nay profitable and necessary for some though it be read out of a book Then for the judgement and practice accordingly of the Reformed Church of France Ludovicus Capellus gives us a sufficient account of who is Professor of Divinity in the University of Somer in one of his Theses lately published de Liturgiae formulis conceptis or a set form of a Liturgie where after hee hath answered all the pretended arguments against it which it seemes he had gleaned up out of some of our English Writers of late he concludes that 't is very necessary both for the most learned Pastors and congregations as unlearned and the edification of both being used throughout the Christian world in all ages at least for these 1300 years and is still at this day in all places excepting only as he saith some of late with us in England whose censure of them ● is so severe that it would be offensive in me to repeat it And surely the general custome and practice of the reformed Churches which Saint Paul urgeth 1 Cor. 11. 16. cap. 14. 33. cannot be contemned by any sober Christian unto which may be added the judgement of diverse pious and eminent men of onr own nation and so esteemed by such as have asserted the contrary whose judgements being too large to be inserted here I shall deferre them till the last who do very fully concurre with the Primate in it Calvin was a wise and learned man now as Beza tells us it was his constant practice to use a set form of Praier before Sermon without alteration So was it his advice in his Epistle to the Protector of England in Edward the sixth's time which hath bin mentioned elsewhere for the establishing of a set form of a Liturgy here from which it might not be lawfull for pastors to depart both for the good of the more ignorant preventing of an affected novelty in others and the declaring of an unanimous consent in all the Churches For which practice and advice he had sufficient warrant from the President of the Ancient Fathers in the Primitive times which might be here also produced And doubtlesse the councell of Eliphaz is is good Iob 8. Enquire I pray thee of the former ages and prepare thy selfe for the search of their Fathers for we are but of yesterday and know nothing shall not they teach thee c. as that of the Prophet Ieremiah cap. 6. 19. aske for the old way and walk therein which may well rebuke the presumption of some who are so led by their own fancies that the Ancient Fathers are of no exemplary esteem with them Onely I may safely reprepresent this to the consideration of any ingenuous person that if it were the practice of the Church of God in all ages for 1500 or but 1300 yeares after Christ not only of the vulgar but of such as were glorious Martyrs and the most eminent Preachers of former and later yeares with whom the holy spirit did much abound doth not the assertion of the contrary condemn the generation of the just or at least argue a bold presumptuous censure of the spirits of just men now made perfect in heaven This only by way of preparative to the Readers attention that there is no singularity in it 2. See the warrants for it in the Scripture i. e. in the Old Testament Numb 6. 23. the Lord gives a form of words to Aaron and his sons to be continued as a perpetual Liturgy from age to age for the blessing the children of Israel saying unto them the Lord blesse thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace c. Numb 10. 35. Moses gives himself a set form at the rising and resting of the Ark. When the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Continued by David at the removall of the Ark in his time Psal. 68. 1. In the 26. of Deut. ye have two set formes prescribed of God himself First to him that offers his first fruits verse 3. thou shalt say unto the Priest c. verse 5. thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God c. consisting chiefly of confession to the 11. verse and then to him that offers his third years tythes verse 13. when after a solemne protestation of bringing all the hollowed things paying his Tythes truly

is observable the argument which he useth he produceth as a Maxime then in his time taken for granted not to be proved but supposed no man then so much as questioning the necessity of it for though there were then divers disputes about discipline and ceremonies in which this learned Authour then appeared yet both parties esteemed alike of Ordination to be a sacred institution none presuming to take upon them the office of the Ministery without it Well this I conceive to be the sence here of laying on of hands viz. That it was a Principle of the Catechisme taught to Christians at their first reception that there was to be a successive ordination or setting apart of persons for the Ministery for an authorative preaching of faith and repentance and administration of Sacraments called laying on of hands from the outward rite as the Lords Supper by breaking of bread And this was the judgement of the most Reverend and learned Father of our Church the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh which hath the rather emboldned me to employ my thoughts in the confirmation of it and surely if it be a fundamentall the knowledge of the sense of it is of a greater consequence then to be slighted First it is considerable how well this doth sute with Saint Pauls expression elsewhere speaking of Ordination 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stirre up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on of my hands 1 Tim. 4. 14. neglect not the gift that is in thee given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery both thus sufficiently reconciled Saint Paul was the principal the Presbyters were his assistants according to the constitutions and custome of our Church in Ordination The Bishop is not to do it alone but with the assistance of at least three or four of the Ministers which was after the pattern of the Primitive times The injunction of Saint Paul for it is accordingly 2 Tim. 5. 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man i. e. ordain And it is the more observable that all are from one and the same Apostle it being one argument to prove Saint Paul was the Authour of this Epistle to the Hebrews by the use of this expression here which is not in the Epistles of any other Apostle 'T is true we read of extraordinary gifts of tongues c. given by laying on of hands in the Acts but they cannot be understood here for they were but temporary and ceased like Scaffolds which after the building of an house are taken down but what is meant here must be as the foundation which remains to the last and all falls with it that agrees to an Ordained Ministery which must continue for the preaching of faith and repentance and administration of Sacraments to the end of the world In which sence is that last speech of our Saviour Matth. 28. Lo I am with you unto the end of the world it cannot be limited to the persons of the Apostles with whose deaths those Administrations did not expire but must be understood collectively of the whole body of the Ministery then as it were in their loines who should succeed in preaching and Baptisme and through whom a successive powerful assistance of the spirit is to be transferred in and through those unto the worlds end This power of officiating was powred on the head of the Apostles and descendeth to the skirts of their garments in these dayes And how like a fundamental Ordination is may easily appear it began at the foundation of the Church and was one of the first stones laid in this Edifice and it must continue to the last for as the Lords Supper is to continue till the second coming of Christ so the Ministers of it have the same term also Ephes. 4. 13. He gave some Pastors Teachers c. Till we all come unto a perfect man unto the measure of the Stature of the fullnesse of Christ c. Rom. 10. 15. Ye have a building of four or five stories high of severall Acts and Ministrations but Ordination of a Ministery is the Foundation Salvation is at the top of this Iacobs Ladder but Ordination at the bottome Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved but how shall they call on him on mhom they have not believed how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent c. See praying believing hearing preaching and then as the foundation of all a Mission of Preachers for that end what is said of the Commandements of the Law Iames 2. he that offends in one is guilty of all such is the concatenation of the principles of the Gospel break one link and all are endangered He that renounceth his Baptisme renounceth his Faith into which he was baptized even the death and resurrection of our Saviour signified by it Colos. 2. Consider what ye do in renouncing the Ministery by whom ye were baptized and have believed 1 Cor. 3. 5. if any efficacy be in the Sacrament according to the qualification authoritative faculty of the person officiating see what hazard you run in rejecting of such so ordained Ye know the speech of our Saviour Matth. 23. 17. He that swears by the Altar sweareth by it and all things thereon and is not the contrary true he that despiseth the Altar despiseth not only that but all that depend on it If the Ordination or Mission of the person through Gods institution be of any efficay to what is officiated I may leave the application to your selves Consider what ye do in a totall renouncing of an ordained Ministery as to Baptisme and believing through whom as instrumentals ye did partake of them If the foundation fall how can the building stand As ye see here Saint Paul makes an ordained Ministery a fundamental principle of Christian Religion So much for the sence of the Text what is meant by laying on of hands Now if Ordination be a fundamental principle hence then these 2 things may be inferred 1. A necessity of continuing an ordained Ministery in the Church and the neglect of it to be the underming of the foundation of it 2. That Ordination is not only an internal call from God but an externall from Man for 't is denominated here from laying on of hands First a necessity of continuing such a distinct Order and profession for preaching and other sacred Administratihns This subject would heretofore have been accounted needlesse to be handled but it is necessary and seasonable now there being many set against the very function as if any man might of himself assume it To such I shall represent these considerations following viz. 1. That in all ages there have been some persons set apart for such divine Offices even before the Law or constitution of Aaron and the Levites as since see some appointed Exod. 19. 22. Let the Priests which come near to

the Lord sanctify themselves Chap. 24. 5. called young men of the Children of Israel sent of Moses who offered the burnt offerings and sacrifice unto the Lord and this is usually interpreted to be the First-borne and that of the principall of the families instead of which the Levites were afterward taken see Numb 3. 12. And what a setled Priesthood there was in Moses and Solomons time to the Captivity and after it upon their return who knows not see Mal. 2. A speech to the Priests and for that five hundred-yeer gap betwixt the Old Testament and the New when the Prophets ceased yet a Priesthood continued that the service of God then was not to put to the charity of Passengers as beggars are by the high way but some were appropriated to it Ieroboam that forsook the Temple yet retained a Priesthood though of his own corrupt appointment Ob●ect That of the Law was a Priesthood but we speak of a Ministery Resp. 1. We stand not upon words or Titles neither doth the Apostle for as 2 Cor. 3. 7 8 9. he calls the Priests of the Law Ministers and their office a Ministration so he implies that the Ministers of the Gospel might have that Title of Priests 1 Cor. 9. 13. by taking his Argument for their maintenance from the Priests Altar and Temple as they that serve at the Altar partake of the Altar even so hath God ordained that those that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel and the name hath only grown ignominious by the Church of Rome's retaining it whom if by way of distinction they had been called by us sacrificers as Bishop Downham observes there had been no offence in it All that read the Fathers know it is the term used by them whose Tractates of the Ministery are intituled De Sacerdotio And the Apostle makes it only a change of the Priesthood Hebr. 7. 12. not a nulling of it upon which change of a ministration none presumed of themselves to officiate without an Ordination Iohn Baptist who was the preparative voice of the Gospel was ordained to it and his disciples were set apart by him our Saviour did the like in ordaining first Twelve for preaching and baptizing and then 72 after them when one of the twelve was lost no other stepped into his place without a solemne choice of him Paul and Barnabas Acts 14. 23. wheresoever they came and converted any nation were carefull of ordaining Successors Saint Paul as his last gives that charge to Timothy and Titus after him and in all Ages of the Church from the Primitive times both in the Greek and Latine Church it hath been observed to this day successively So that for such as would have no such office of a Ministery by ordination but all men left to themselves to officiate at their pleasure we may say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 16. We have had no such custome neither the Churches of God or as Eliphaz to Iob cap. 5. 1. call now if there be any will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn where is there any such President in all the reformed Churches The Israelites would have a King as all other nations These are upon the contrary singularity 'T is true the New Ierusalem Revel 21. 22. meant heaven is found without a Temple and a Priest because Christ shall then give up his kingdome to his Father 1 Cor. 15. i. e. the manner of this present government by the Scepter of his word and Seale of Sacraments and then God shall be all in all but till then a setled Ministery must be continued Secondly if no successive ordained Ministery why doth Saint Paul spend so much time in exhorting to a future provision for them 1 Cor. 9. Gal. 6. 6. 1 Tim. 5. 17. can we think it was only for himself and such then living who expected Martyrdome weekly why such large directions for the qualification of such as were to be ordained by his Successors in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus surely it was written for our instruction now Thirdly consider what conclusion must be the issue of the contrary our Saviour pitied the people when they were like Sheep without a Shepherd That which is every mans work is no bodies As in reason the office of the Ministery must be weakly and negligently done when no persons are appointed to make it their study and sabour fo when gaps are thus opened for any person may not Iesuits and such lik Agents creep in under other forms and privily bring in damnable heresies to the seducing of the hearers I am loth to imagine that this should be at the bottome of this assertion that so with the more specious pretext they might take away the maintenance as indeed one must follow the other for if there be no need of a setled ordained Ministery what use of a setled meanes alotted for it If any shall stumble at that speech often in the mouthes of some Isa. 54. 13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord he may be satisfied by this double Answer 1. It was fulfilled in that time of our Lord and Saviour teaching them immediately by himself which he expounds accordingly Iohn 6. 45. It is written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath learned of the Father cometh unto me c. 2. The Lord is said to teach when he doth it by a Ministery sent by him according to that of Ierem. 3. 15. I will give you Pastors after my own heart that shall feed you with knowledge and understanding c. fulfilled under the Gospel And we grant that though the proposal of the doctrine is by the Minister yet the illumination of the mind and the rectifying of the heart through it is from God Object If that of Saint Peter 1 Eph. 4. 10. he objected As every man hath received the gift so let him minister the same as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God Answ. I conceive it is not meant the gift of preaching but of Almes The words immediately before are these Vse hospitality one to another without grudging there is the manner and then in these words As every one hath received the gift so let him minister is implyed the measure of it agreeing with that of Saint Pauls injunction 1 Cor. 16. 2. Let every one lay by him to that end as God had prospered him c. That these temporal things are the gift of God the fourth Petition of the Lords Prayer shewes sufficiently And that collections of these and giving them to the poor is called a ministring to the Saints See 2 Cor. 8. 4. cap. 9. 1. and stiled grace cap. 8. 19. and what other sense can there be of that cap. 9. 8. God is able to make all grace abound but of temporall blessings as the next words shew to multiply your seed sowen and minister bread for your food V. 10. and they may be called the