Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bishop_n	call_v	presbyter_n	3,415	5	10.3134	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47466	King William's toleration being an explanation of that liberty of religion, which may be expected from His Majesty's declaration, with a bill for comprehension & indulgence, drawn up in order to an act of Parliament.	William III, King of England, 1650-1702.; Nottingham, Heneage Finch, Earl of, 1621-1682.	1689 (1689)	Wing K580; ESTC R22778	16,192	20

over all the Statutes that concern Religion for the finding out every thing that is hard and fit to be Repealed whether it be the whole Act or the Act at Oxford or part of it as the Uniformity Act to the end that those Parts and Clauses if over grievous but to the Papists themselves being duly considered and Matters thoroughly adjusted an Act may be drawn up that should be a Repealing Act to deliver us from such Burdens altogether and that were the most Effectual Indulgence or best way to it that is imaginable And as for Comprehension then which is a matter of more Curiosity Debate and Counsel It were well that this Bill here proposed might be brought in and past for a Staying Act or Interim of Pacification until a Tryal of the Comprehended some Consults of the Comprehended and Indulged a Convocation of the Conformists with part of the Comprehended chosen into that Convocation a Revisal of the Churches Liturgy their Book of Orders their Articles their Homilies their Canons with other such preliminary matters pre-ordered may Administer the Advantage to a more compleat Act and better Establishment than can be expected at this Season I will conclude with what is apt at present Comprehension without Indulgence destroys the Separatist that is both the Papists and Sectaries Indulgence without Comprehension depopulates the Church Comprehension with Indulgence Unites the Protestants secures the Church of England and gives Ease and Safety to all People ADVERTISEMENT ALthough there was so much Care taken of the Bill of Indulgence as I have said Page 10. when drawn up that nothing needful should be left out yet am I told very newly That there is one Clause in the Act of Uniformity making Dissenters lyable to pay 100 l. for administring the Sacrament escaped their Remembrance and that it is good therefore some general Words providing a Covering for them from all Danger by Common and Statute Law unknown as well as from the Penalties of the Law enumerated were added to the Bill THE POSTSCRIPT BEfore I sent the fore-going Sheets to the Press I understood that the Bill for Indulgence was brought into the House of Lords and knowing the Contexture long since it made me speak so much of the Subscription to the Articles as I have done Since then I have seen the Bill for Comprehension which is brought in There likewise And though I cannot but in Gratitude take notice of the Candour in it that the Subscription to the Articles is waved there yet do I find Two things in it which the Nonconformists will stick at so that if they be not mended the Bill is like to do no Good. One of these things like to stick is this Declaration I A. B. do approve of the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church of England as by Law Established c. The Government here intended includes the Hierarchy with its Officers and Offices Lay-Chancellours Officials and I know not what more we must Subscribe to when we say we approve of this Government And when the 36th Article of the Church is excepted from our Subscription in the Bill of Indulgence as known to have been so grievous to the Nonconformists from Queen Elizabeth's days untill now in regard to the Arch-Bishops and Bishops though it says only that the Book for their Consecration hath in it nothing Superstitious and Vngodly which it may not have though in something otherwise we may not approve it I wonder it should not come to be thought that such words would not down with our Nonconformists I approve of this Government Especially when some of the most Grave of them have took the Covenant for its Extirpation I shall therefore humbly beseech the House of Lords if it be not too late or if it be the House of Commons that if such a Declaration must be imposed some such words as these may be substituted in its room I A. B. do heartily approve of the Reformation made by the Church of England in her Doctrine and Worship I shall submit to her Government so far as I can with a good Conscience And I receive her Articles as conducive to Concord and containing in them all things necessary to Salvation The Other Thing like to stick is the Business of Re-ordination in regard to those that have been ordained only by Presbyters and it is to be noted that there is a Device offered in this Bill for Reconciling the Bishop and Presbyter by giving Satisfaction to Both The Bishop challenges a sole Right of giving Orders from the Canons of the Apostles as they are called and from Councils and Fathers even Jerom himself down to the Reformation And the Ministers ordained by Presbyters plead the Custom of the Reformed Churches and their Authority from Christ accounting that the Spiritual Power comes not by the Hands which are laid on him whether of Bishop or Presbyter and therefore says Hooker We breath not on the Ordained as Christ did but flows immediately the Conditions being put from Christ's Institution If the Bishop part with this Privilege he degrades himself of the Power the Church hath given him and if the Minister recedes from his former Orders he departs from the Authority Christ hath given him To reconcile both this is the Device The Bishop shall acknowledg the Person ordained by Presbyters to be a Minister already whose Ministerial Acts have been and are valid as the Acts of any other Minister and that he ordains him not therefore to the Office which he has already but admits him to the Exercise of his Ministry in the Church of England and consequently to the Emoluments that may arise to him upon that Account The Man was and is and must be a Minister of Christ before but he is no Legal Minister or not to be accounted reputed held to all Intents and Purposes a Minister of the Church of England till he hath received Imposition of Hands from a Bishop He is a Minister before in foro Dei but not till then a Minister in foro Ecclesiae Anglicanae As a Man who is a Graduate or made Doctor beyond Sea and comes to London he is and must be acknowledged a true Doctor but he shall not have Liberty to Practise till admitted into our College of Physitians I must confess my self partial in my respect to this Device for I suppose it deriv'd from Dr. Wilkins's credit into this Bill and I know from whence and upon what account he received it I will therefore say thus much for it That if this Device may be owned and acknowledged for what it is that is a New Thing or a New Institution in the Church for which an Office should be made and no trick put on the Nonconformists by it As I see no cause then why such an Ecclesiastical Institution being necessary for Peace-sake might not be Made so do I apprehend no unlawfulness in the submitting to it If any ill be in it it must lie on the part of

moreover by the Authority aforesaid That every Parson Vicar and Lecturer shall conform to the Liturgy of the Church in the Ordinary Lords-day Service Reading the same by himself or Assistant as by Law it is Established Reserving a Necessary and Just Liberty for his Conscience in any Matter or Words which himself esteems unlawful and so to him it is Sin and also for Prudence in the whole management to Act with respect to Time Place and Circumstances so as appears most conducive to Edification And as long as the main Body of the Service appointed is there Read and the substance of the Offices be there Performed he shall not be Punishable for any breach otherwise of the Acts of Uniformity any thing in the said Statutes to the contrary notwithstanding AND for as much as there are some Ministers ef a good Life that cannot according to their Judgments allow of our Parochial Churches nor the Book of Liturgy but do choose to Worship God and Jesus Christ in the way of their Gathered and Separate Congregations and crave the Protection and Clemency of the King upon their Allegiance as other Subjects BE it Enacted furthermore by the Authority aforesaid That for the Happiness and quiet of the Realm and the Reduction of these Men by other means than those that have hitherto proved Unsuccessful All Prosecution of the Penal Laws against the Nonconformists of every sort that profess the Protestant Religion be suspended untill by a further Act of Parliament those that are fit to be Tolerated and the Intolerable shall be distinguished and such Order be taken as is necessary to the Settling a firm and lasting Union in the Nation Thus much for the First and Second thing the Design and Bill now for the Third some little Animadversions upon it I must confess my self One that am concerned and that have been so still when Parliaments Sate both in my Mind and my Endeavours to the utmost for Peace and Union in the Church which is the cause that this Bill thus produced was put and left upon Record on purpose in that Book mentioned for some future Parliament to use it self or to take Measure by for making another if they would fit the Nonconformists General Case and accomplish the End design'd And now am I afraid at my Heart lest when we have such an opportunity as we never had really before when King and Queen and Parliament and the whole People are for Uniting the Protestants as our Interest against the danger of the Papists from abroad and at home there should be some Obstruction yet put to this Accommodation which is so forward and hopeful either through the Machinations of some close Enemies by such Methods as we cannot discern and so cannot prevent or through the shortness of true Friends who for want of knowing perfectly what it is the Nonconformist must have may be over-seen or over-reacht and sit down with something less than will serve the turn and for that Reason have I gathered together and do put forth this Paper though not without much Reluctancy because I know well that some men will be ready to say Who are you and what have you to do with these Matters which belong to the Parliament But I say They do belong to me and are the Concern of every Body and if for lack of a little intimation at first the Nonconformist should come to have their Consciences choakt and be deprived of their Liberty at last those Men of all other that now would stave me back and reprove me for medling might more deservedly be the First to upbraid us all and say Why did you not look better to it when it was Time You may thank your selves it was through your own negligence that you had not what you would at such a Season Be it known therefore or remembred that there being two Bills in the House of Commons upon the Anvil in Charles the Second's time the One of them for Comprehension the Other for Indulgence the Titles were otherwise worded but the Intent such The Bill for Indulgence was so well attended by an industrious Member of the House that nothing was wanting to the Compleating of it but the Bill for Comprehension being drawn up by Gentlemen that did not and could not fully understand the Scruples of the Nonconformists was both imperfect and neglected Only one Person without door having procured a Copy and finding it so did by applying himself to several Members about it get something to be changed or put into it at the Committee and afterwards with Consent and Assistance of some of his Brethren improve and perfect it against the Sitting of the Parliament at Oxford but they sitting not it was thought good to put it as a Memorial into that Book and for that end as is mentioned When I say now this Bill was perfected as I mean it only in regard to the Contents leaving the Words to be formed better as a Parliament pleased so by this Perfection I mean not such a Measure as all those Condescentions or Allowances sit to to be made to the Dissenter may not Exceed for there is the Service-Book may be Revised and every thing in it that gives occasion of stumbling to any may be changed and there are other things may be expected at this time which could not rationally heretofore but such a Measure as they must not fall short of without rendring the Bill insignificant For if there be ten Thorns in the Nonconformists Foot and the Bishops pull out Nine of them and leave the Tenth he cannot go along with them for that One only There are some few Additions therefore inserted in this Bill which were not put into it by the Committee at that time the Reasons whereof will appear in their own Light Excepting Two of them which I will therefore speak something about the One being concerning the Subscription of the Articles the Other concerning Orders I will begin with that concerning Orders In the late Times when the Bishops were down many were Ordained by Presbyters and the Parliament was willing to allow those Orders as good in a Case of Necessity But there being Others ordained since the return of the Bishops there was no Provision made for such in the Bill As for these Persons therefore that ●e neglect of the Bishops may be countenanced here is the Proposal of such a Laying on of their Hands which may be lawfully received For there is Ordinatio ad Ossicium Reordinatio ad Exeritium particulare may consist together An Ordination to the Office or Ministry it self is not to be repeated He that is once ordained to That whether by Presbyters or Bishops cannot receive the Spiritual Power or Character or be made Ministers Again But there is a Laying on of Hands to the Work of that Office in regard to a new Charge as Paul and Barnabas who were Ministers before are yet separated to that peculiar Work unto which the Holy Ghost called