Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	action_n	spiritual_a	temporal_a	3,151	5	9.9667	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43547	Parliaments power in lawes for religion, or, An ansvvere to that old and groundles [sic] calumny of the papists, nick-naming the religion of the Church of England, by the name of a parliamentary-religion sent to a friend who was troubled at it, and earnestly desired satisfaction in it.	Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.	1645 (1645)	Wing H1730; ESTC R200234	30,417	44

Power in Spirituall matters from no other hands than those of Christ and his Apostles their Temporall honors and possessions from the bounty and affection only of our Kings and Princes their Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction in Causes Matrimoniall Testamentary and the like for which no Action lieth at the Common-Lawe from continuall usage and prescription and owe no more unto the Parliament than all sort of Subjects doe besides whose fortunes and Estates have been occasionally and collaterally confirmed in Parliament And as for the particular Statutes which are touched upon that of the 24 H. 8. doth only constitute and ordain a way by which they might be chose and consecrated without recourse to Rome for a confirmation which formerly had put the Prelates to great charge and trouble but for the Form and manner of their Consecration the Statute leaves it to those Rites and Ceremonies wherewith before it was performed And therefore Sanders doth not stick to affirm that all the Bishops which were made in King Henries dayes were Lawfully and Canonically ordained and Consecrated the Bishops of that time not only being taken and acknowledged in Queen Maries dayes for lawfull and Canonicall Bishops but called on to assist at the Consecration of such other Bishops Cardinall Poole himselfe for one as were promoted in her Reigne whereof see Mason's book de Minist. Ang. l. 3. c.. Next for the Statute 1 Ed. 6. cap. 2. besides that it is satisfied in part by the former Answer as it relates to their Canonicall Consecrations it was repealed in Terminis in the first of Q. Maries Reigne and never stood in force nor practice to this day That of the authorizing of the book of Ordination in two severall Parliaments of that King the one a parte antè and the other a parte pòst as before I told you might indeed seem somewhat to the purpose if any thing were wanting in it which had been used in the formula's of the Primitive times or if the book had been composed in Parliament or by Parliament men or otherwise received more Authority from them then that it might be lawfully used and exercised throughout the Kingdom But it is plain that none of these things were objected in Queen Maries dayes when the Papists stood most upon their points the Ordinall not being called in because it had too much of the Parliament but because it had too little of the Pope and relished too strongly of the Primitive Piety And for the Statute of the 8 of Q. Elizabeth which is cheifly stood on all that was done therein was no more than this and on this occasion A question had been made by captious and unquiet men and amongst the rest by Dr. Bonner sometimes Bishop of London whether the Bishops of those times were lawfully ordained or not the reason of the doubt being this which I mervaile Mason did not see because the Book of Ordination which was annulled and abrogated in the first of Q. Mary had not been yet restored and revived by any legall Act of Q. Elizabeths time which Cause being brought before the Parliament in the 8. yeare of her Reigne the Parliament took notice first that their not restoring of that book to the former Power in Termes significant and expresse was but Casus omissus and then declare that by the Statute 5 6 Ed. 6. It had been added to the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments as a member of it at least as an Appendant to it and therefore by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. was restored againe together with the said book of Common Prayer intentionally at the least if not in Terminis But being the words in the said Statute were not cleare enough to remove all doubts they therefore did revive it now and did accordingly enact that whatsoever had been done by virtue of that Ordination should be good in Lawe This is the Totall of the Statute and this shewes rather in my judgement that the Bishops of the Queenes first times had too little of the Parliament in them then that they were conceived to have had too much And so I come to your last objection which concernes the Parliament whose entertayning all occasions to manifest their power in Ecclesiasticall matters doth seem to you to make that groundles slander of the Papists the more faire and plausible 'T is true indeed that many Members of both Houses in these latter times have been very ready to imbrace all businesses which are offered to them cut of a probable hope of drawing the managery of all Affaires as well Ecclesiasticall as Civill into their own hands and some there are who being they cannot hope to have their fancies authorised in a Regular way doe put them upon such designes as neither can consist with the nature of Parliaments nor the esteem and reputation of the Church of Christ And this hath been a practice even as old as Wicklef who in the time of K. Rich. 2. addressed his Petition to the Parliament as we reade in Walsingham for the Reformation of the Clergy the rooting out of many false and erroneous Tenents and for establishing of his own Doctrines who though he had some Wheat had more Tares by ods in the Church of England lest he might be thought to have gone a way as dangerous and unjustifiable as it was strange and new he laid it down for a Position that the Parliament or Temporall Lords where by the way this ascribes no authority or power at all to the House of Commons might lawfully examine and Reform the Disorders and Corruptions of the Church and on discovery of the errors and corruptions of it devest her of all Titles and Temporall endowments till she were reformed But for all this and more than this for all he was so strongly backed by the Duke of Lancaster neither his Petition nor his Position found any welcome in the Parliament further than that it made them cast many a longing eye on the Churches Patrimony or produced any other effect towards the worke of Reformation which he chiefly aymed at then that it hath since served for a Precedent to Penry Pryn and such like turbulent Innovators to disturbe the Church and set on foot those dreames and dotages which otherwise they durst not publish And to say truth as long as the Clergy were in power and had authority in Convocation to doe what they would in matters which concern'd Religion those of the Parliament conceived it neither safe nor fitting to intermeddle in such businesse as concern'd the Clergy for feare of being questioned for it at the Churches barre But when that power was lessen'd if it were not lost by the Submission of the Clergy to K. H. 8. and the Act of the Supremacy which ensued upon it then did the Parliaments begin to intrench upon the Church's Rights to offer at and enterteine such businesses as formerly were held peculiar to the Clergy only next to dispute their Charters and reverse

also for the lawfull Rites Ceremonies and observation of Gods service within this Realme This was in the yeare 1540. at what time the Parliament was also sitting of which the King was pleased to make this especiall use that whereas the worke which was in hand I use againe the words of the Statute required ripe and mature deliberation and was not rashly to be defined and set forth and so not fit to be restrained to the present Session An Act was passed to this effect that all Determinations Declarations Decrees Definitions and Ordinances as according to God's Word and Christs Gospell should at any time hereafter be set forth by the said Archbishops and Bishops and Doctors in Divinity now appointed or hereafter to be appointed by his Royall Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the Matter of Christ's Religion and the Christian Faith and the lawfull Rites Ceremonies and observations of the same by his Majesties advice and confirmation under the Great Seale of England shall be by all his Graces Subjects fully beleeved obeyed observed and performed to all purposes and intents upon the paines and penalties therein to be comprized as if the same had beene in expresse words and sentences plainly and fully made set forth declared and conteined in the said Act. 32. of H. 8. c 26. Where note that the two houses of Parliament were so farre from medling in the matter which was then in hand that they did not so much as require to see the determinations and Decrees of those learned men whom his Majesty had then assembled before they passed the present Act to binde the subject fully to beleeve observe and performe the same but left it wholly to the judgement and discretion of the King and Clergy and trusted them besides with the ordaining and inflicting of such paines and penalties on disobedient and unconformable persons as to them seemed meete This ground worke laid the worke went forwards in good order and at last being brought unto as much perfection as the said Archbishops Bishops and other learned men could give it without the cooperation and concurrence of the Royall assent it was presented once againe to the King's consideration who very carefully perused it and alterd many things with his owne hand as appeareth by the booke it selfe still extant in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton and having so altered and corrected it in some passages returned it to the Arcbishop of Canterbury who bestowed some further paines upon it to the end that being to come forth in the Kings name and by his authority there should be nothing in the same which might be justly reprehended The businesse being in this forwardnesse the King declares in Parliament An. 1544. being the 34 yeare of his Reigne his zeale and care not only to suppresse all such bookes and writings as were noysom and pestilent and tended to the seducing of his subjects but also to ordaine and establish a certaine forme of pure and sincere teaching agreeable to Gods Word and the true doctrine of the Catholick and Apostolick Church whereunto men may have recourse for the decision of some such controversies as have in times past yet doe happen to arise And for a preparatory thereunto that so it might come forth with the greater credit he caused an Act to passe in Parliament for the abolishing of all bookes and writings comprizing any matters of Christian Religion contrary to that doctrine which since the yeare 1540. is or any time during the Kings life shall be set forth by his Highnesse and for the punishment of all such and that too with most grievous paines which should preach teach mainteine or defend any matter or thing contrary to the booke of Doctrine which was then in readinesse 34.35 H. 8. c. 1. Which done he caused the said booke to be imprinted in the yeare next following under the Title of A necessary Doctrine for all sorts of people prefixing a Preface thereto in his owne Royall name to all his faithfull and loving Subjects that they might know the better in those dangerous times what to beleeve in point of Doctrine and how they were to carry and behave themselves in point of practice which Statute as it is the greatest evidence which those times afford to shew that both or either of the houses of Parliament had any thing to doe in matters which concern'd Religion so it entitles them to no more if at all to any thing then that they did make way to a booke of doctrine which was before digested by the Clergy only revised after and corrected by the Kings owne hand and finally perused and perfected by the Metropolitan And more than so besides that being but one swallowe it can make no summer it is acknowledged and confessed in the Act it selfe if Poulton understand it rightly in his Abridgement that recourse must be had to the Catholick and Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies Which as it gives the Clergy the Decisive power so it left nothing to the Houses but to assist and ayde them with the Temporall sword when the Spirituall Word could not doe the deede the point thereof being blunted and the edge abated Next let us looke upon the time of king Ed. 6. and we shall find the Articles and Doctrine of the Church excepting such as were conteined in the booke of Common-Prayer to be composed confirmed and setled in no other way than by the Clergy only in their Convocation the kings authority cooperating and concurring with them For in the Synod held in London An. 1552. The Clergy did compose and agree upon a booke of Articles conteining the chiefe heads of the Christian Faith especially with referrence to such points of Controversie as were in difference betweene the Reformators of the Church of England and the Church of Rome and other opponents whatsoever which after were approved and published by the Kings authority They were in number 41 and were published by this following Title that is to say Articuli de quibus in Synodo London An. 1552. ad tollendum opinionum dissentionem et consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios Eruditos viros convenerat Regia Authoritate in lucem Editi And it is worth our observation that though the Parliament was held at the very time and that the Parliament passed severall Acts which concerned Church-matters as viz. An Act for uniformity of Divine Service and for the confirmation of the booke of Ordination 5. 6. Ed. 6. c. 1. An Act declaring which daies only shall be kept for holy-dayes and which for fasting dayes c. 3. An Act against striking or drawing weapon either in the Church or Church-yard c. 4. and finally another Act for the legitimating of the marriages of Priests and Ministers c. 12. yet neither in this Parliament nor in that which followed is there so much as the least syllable which reflects this way or medleth any

their Priviledges and finally to impose some hard Lawes upon them Of which Matt. Parker thus complaines in the life of Cranmer Qua Ecclesiasticarum legum potestate abdicata populus in Parliamento coepit de rebus divinis inconsulto Clero Sancire tum absentis Cleri privilegia sensim detrahere juraque duriora quibus Clerus invitus teneretur constituere But these were only tentamenta offers and undertakings only and no more than so Neither the Parliaments of K. Edward or Q. Elizabeths times knew what it was to make Committees for Religion or thought it fit that Vzzah should support the Arke though he saw it tottering That was a worke belonging to the Levites only none of the other Tribes were to meddle with it But as the Puritan faction grew more strong and active so they applied themselves more openly to the Houses of Parliament but specially to the House of Commons putting all power into their hands as well in Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall Causes as in matters Temporall This amongst others confidently affirmed by Mr. Prynne in the Epistle to his book called Anti-Arminianisme where he averres that all our Bishops our Ministers our Sacraments our Consecration our Articles of Religion our Homilies Common-Prayer-book yea and all the Religion of our Church is no other way publiquely received supported or established amongst us but by Acts of Parliament And this not only since the time of the Reformation but that Religion and Church affaires were determined ratified declared and ordered by Act of Parliament and no wayes else even then when Popery and Church-men had the greatest sway Which strange assertion falling from the Pen of so great a Scribe was forthwith cheerfully received amongst our Pharisees who hoped to have the highest places not only in the Synagogue but the Court of Sanhedrim advancing the authority of Parliaments to so high a pitch that by degrees they fastned on them both an infallibility of judgement and an omnipotency of Power Nor can it be denied to deale truly with you but that they met with many apt Schollers in that house who eyther out of a desire to bring all the grist to their own Mill or willing to enlarge the great power of Parliaments by making new Precedents for Posteritie or out of faction or affection or what else you please began to put their Rules in practise and draw all matters whatsoever within the cognizance of that Court In wch their embracements were at last so generall and that humour in the House so prevalent that one being once demanded what they did amongst them returned this Answer That they were making a new Creed Another being heard to say That he could not be quiet in his Conscience till the holy Text should be confirmed by an Act of Theirs which passages if they be not true and reall as I have them from an honest hand I assure you they are bitter jests But this although indeed it be the sicknesse and disease of the present times and little to the honour of the Court of Parliament can be no prejudice at all to the Cause of Religion or to the way and meanes of the Reformation amongst sober and discerning men the Doctrine of the Church being setled the Liturgie published and confirmed the Canons authorized and executed when no such humor was predominant nor no such Power pretended to by both or eyther of the Houses of the High Court of Parliament Thus Syr according to my promise and your expectation have I collected my Remembrances and represented them unto you in as good a fashion as my other troublesome affaires and the distractions of the time would give me leave and therein made you see if my judgement faile not that the Parliament hath done no more in matters wch concern'd Religion and the Reformation of this Church then what hath formerly been done by the secular Powers in the best and happiest times of Christianity and consequently that the clamour of the Papists which hath disturbed you is both false and groundlesse Which if it may be serviceable to your selfe or others whom the like doubts and prejudices have possessed or scrupled it is all I wish my studies and endeavors ayming at no other end then to doe all the service I can possibly to the Church of God to whose Graces and divine Protection you are most heartily commended in our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST by SIR Your most affectionate freind to serve you E. Y. Covent-Garden Iun. 29. 1645.