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	church_n	episcopal_a	3,133	5	10.8910	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59284	The interest of Scotland in three essays ...	Seton, William, Sir, d. 1744.	1700 (1700)	Wing S2650; ESTC R15555	38,798	124

A Bishop was Elected both by the Clergy Laity of his Parish as we learn from the Death of Bishop Anterus in whose place Falianus was Elected at Rome for fayeth Eusebius lib. 6. c. 28. All the People met together in the Church to chuse a Successor proposing several illustrious and eminent Personages as fit for Office whilst not one so much as thought on Falianus then present till a Dove miraculously came and sat upon his head in the same manner as the Holy Ghost formerly descended on our Saviour and then all the People guided as it were with one Divine Spirit cryed out with one Mind and Soul that Falianus was most worthy of the Bishoprick and so straightways taking him they placed him in the Episcopal Throne At present we know Bishops are chosen only by the Clergy contrary to the Practice of the Church of Rome as we have seen in the Example of Falianus The People had power to depose their own Bishops as the People of Spain did Martiales and Basilides and who had their Proceedings ratified by an African Council assembled in the Year 258. Cyprian Epist 68. But in what Cases People could depose a Bishop is not determined by Antiquity In the Primitive times every Christian was considered both as a Member of the Universal Church and as one of that particular Church where he lived if therefore he erred in any Article of Faith he was judged guilty of Heresie And if he was at Variance with his Bishop he was guilty only of Schism and consequently deserved either the Name of Heretick or Schismatick Yet it 's clear that at present one may be at Variance with his Bishop without being reputed Schismatick For Example if a particular Man in the Diocess of Tork should have a personal prejudice against his Bishop and would not Communicat with him altho in the time of Cyprian he would have been guilty of Schism had he been at Variance with his Bishop From this short account and what more could be collected about the Practice of the Fathers from their Writings in Church Government we can learn nothing but Titles Names and some general Rules observed in the Exercise of the Governments of particular Churches which made up the Universal Church therefore it must be an Error to assert that either the Episcopal Government in England or the Presbyterian in Scotland as they are now constitute was in fashion in the Primitive Ages What then in Reason ought to be affirmed for Truth about Church-Government appears to be That the Apostles and those they appointed to preach the Law of their Master living in times when they had no Civil Government to protect them were persecuted and harrassed from place to place having most of the Magistrats and Philosophers to be their declared Enemies therefore it was their greatest business only to preach a Crucified Saviour who was risen from Death and ascended up into Heaven to be Mediator betwixt his Father and all People that would follow the Laws of his Gospel which Laws they taught to all their Proselyts which made up the Catholick Church And that the Members of it might be the better instructed in the Mysteries of their Religion it was necessary to have them erected into particular Churches or Societies as the Circumstances of the Times would allow Which accordingly they did and regulated their outward Forms that all things might be done in Order and Decency Hence arose the necessity of Church-Officers to keep all things right and to put the Divine Laws in Execution The Bishop was the first Presbyter in Honour for his Apostolick Qualities amongst other Presbyters who were so many new Apostles to be sent abroad to convert the Pagans and to constitute new Churches as they found Believers after what forms were most convenient And by such means were Churches erected at Jerusalem Alexandria Rome Carthage c. Which Churches so long as they wanted the Protection of Civil Magistrats so long did they keep a good Correspondence amongst themselves having frequent Meetings to suppress all Heresies which Meetings were called Councils Now may we be of Opinion That our Saviour did forsee that the Christian World would be divided into distinct secular Governments and that each Government would have the order kept amongst the Men set apart for Divine Service which was agreeable to it's Constitution For tho particular Churches might have different Governments yet the Universal Church is no more dismemb'red than if a King who had different Countreys in Subjection could be denyed to be Master of them all because that his Laws were put in Execution in one of them by a Viceroy in another by a few Noble Men and in the Third by a parcel of Commons To strengthen this Opinion we know That no sooner the Roman Emperours and their Subjects become Christians but there was an Analogy betwixt their Civil and Ecclesiastical Governments For the whole Empire being divided into Fourteen Diocesses each of them comprehending several Provinces and every province several Cities Every City as it had a temporal Magistrat for executing Justice so was there also a Bishop for Spiritual Order and Government Every Province as it had a Proconsul whose Seat was usually at the Metropolis So there was in the same City an Arch-Bishop or Metropolitan In every Diocess there was a Vicarius who dwelt in the principal City of the Diocess where all Imperial Edicts were published There was also a Primat to equal him and to whom the Determination of all differences of the Clergy did belong And lastly as the Fourteen Diocesses were ruled by four Praetorian Prefects in civil Matters so were they governed in Church Affairs by Patriarchs who were superiour to Primats by reason of the Dignity of these Cities where they had their Sees fixed as at Rome Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem But to what hight Church-men can improve their Power may be learned from the Patriarchs of Rome who had once almost enslaved the whole Christian world by their Supremacy Purgatory Indulgences and Pardons auricular Confessions and Caelibacy of the Clergy As there is a necessity of some Church-Government to be in every Common-Wealth that by its Discipline its Members may be keep'd in duty both to God and to their fellow Subjects So every Church-Government ought to sympathize with that Civil Government it meets with to make up one Christian Society But to shew what Church and Civil Governments agree best together let us take a short view of all them which are in use at present in the Christian world Tho Man hath a Natural Inclination to Society yet that which constitutes a Body Politick is Confederation and a Consent of Governours and Governed from which we have the different kinds of Civil Government Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy And paralel to these are three kinds of Church-Government Hierarchy Superintendency and Presbytrie Monarchy is a Government that 's vested in one single Person who is absolute and hath a Right of

constituting and giving Laws to all in general and to each in particular under his Dominion To which agrees that Church-Government Hierarchy composed of arch-Arch-Bishops Bishops c. And of such two Governments was constitute the Roman Empire in the time of Constantine Aristocracy is the Government of a few of the greatest power and conform to it is Superintendency Which is a Church-Government where a parcel of Members are all equal in power and by the same are distinguished from the rest of the Clergy Democracy is a Government in which the whole Body of the People hath some share and to this is consonant Presbytrie Which is a Church-Government where all the Clergy are equally concerned To none of the above-mentioned kinds of Civil Government doth the Civil Governments of Scotland and England belong which being both of the same Nature I shall call them by one Name a Limited Monarchical Government Which is a Government that 's manag'd by one Man according to the Laws of the Society where he reigns which Laws are made by him in Conjunction with his People So that he hath his Prerogatives and they their Properties and such a Government hath the Advantage of all others which can degenerat into Tyrannies The Government of Scotland and England being a limited Monarchy quite opposit to an absolute one It follows that some other kind of Church-Government must be more agreeable to it than Hierarchy which agrees only with an absolute Monarchy Because the People having lodged so many Prerogatives with their King as the power of declaring War of making Peace of sending Ambassadors of making Leagues and Treaties and of Levying of Men and Arms by Sea and Land if this King is ill-inclined what wants he more but Money to change the very foundamental Laws of his Government and to make Parliaments altogether useless which cannot be raised from the Subject without their consent or which is all one without the consent of Parliament Therefore the People ought to take particular care in chooseing Men to be their Representatives in Parliament that they be Men of Honour and Probity whom the Monarch can noways influence to betray the Liberties of their Countrey And surely it must succeed the better with it the fewer Members of Parliament depend upon the King What power the Kings of Great Britain have had to Cajol Bishops being constant Members of the Parliament into a Complyance with their designs the History of Past-times must declare Constantine as he was the first Christian Emperor so had he a great respect for the professors of that Religion We read in his life That he would not only regal its Teachers at his own Table but that he never went a Journey without ome of them along with him that at the Council of Nice so great was his Complaisance for Church-men that he refused to sit down in their presence The Clergy on the other hand being sensible of the Emperours Kindness continue with him the old Title of Pontifex Maximus by virtue of which he had Right of Ecclesiastical Function reserving for themselves all the Ministerial Offices So Constantine was Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacer dos A mutual good understanding was so cultivated amongst the succeeding Emperours and the Clergy that they had several Laws made in their savour as may be seen in the Titles of the Codex de sacrosanctis Eccles de Episc Cler till the Bishops of Rome taking the opportunity of the Division of the Roman Empire being over-run by Barbarous Nations and of the Ignorance of the times did set up for it themselves under the Specious Title of Christs Vicar And how far they carried their Authoriy with Temporal Princes for some Ages is evident by the Insolence of Hildebrand who rebelled against his lawful Emperor Henry the fourth depriving him of all that respect which was due unto him from a Bishop of Rome It hath been the Policy of the Papal Court to keep the Clergy of every Common-wealth in a certain Hierarchy That it might the more conveniently challenge a Supremacy over them and to the end that they might depend absolutely upon their Interest for to oppose all Temporal Princes who durst do any thing in prejudice of the Holy See by Excommunicating and depriving them of the Allegiance of their Subjects In such a Condition was both the Clergy of England and Scotland in the time of King Henry the Eight of England Who being a wise Prince and disobliged by the Pope in the Marriage of Anna Bullen took the occasion of a Critical Minut to throw off the Popes Supremacy over his Clergy and to assert it for himself according to the Practice of the Kings of England And finding that his Clergy was satisfied with the change he continued the Antient Popish Hierarchy making the Bishops of his Kingdom capable of the greatest Civil Employments in it If the Reformation had begun in Scotland with publick Authority as it did in England I doubt not but Episcopacy had been continued there in place of that Church Government introduced by Knox and others after the Geneva Model Because Supream Civil Powers know how much it is their Interest to be of the Clergies side And that it is easier to have a few Church Men to manage than a Multitude Of this King James is an Example who was not only a great Favourer of the Clergy but thought it his Interest so soon as he was sole Monarch of this whole Island to establish Episcopacy in Scotland according to that Maxim No Bishop No King Now let us see what great Feats Bishops have done in the Management of the British Affairs and accordingly we should make our Judgment concerning the Agreeableness of Episcopacy and our Government which is a Limited Monarchy In the Reign of King James the First of Great-Britain there were Bishops no doubt who complyed with him in every Counsel that was for the Dishonour of his Crowns For we find the Bishop of Lincoln then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England in his Sermon at King James his Funeral either to flatter his Successor or to impose upon the World making a paralel betwixt him and King Solomon his Text being 1 King 11.41 42 43. Now either that Bishop was perswaded of the Verity of what he preached or not If he was perswaded that King James was the Solomon of his Age then surely he could not refuse to go along with him in all his Counsels And if he preached contrary to what was his Opinion then he was capable at Command to be an Haickny Courtier In King Charles the First 's time it was Bishop Laud and others that occasioned all the Misfortunes that befel that Prince both unhappy in his Council and in his Opiniatritie In King Charles the Second's Reign we never heard of any of his Ecclesiastical Counsellors that e're Discourted themselves for disswading him from his Effeminat Way of Living or from following too much French Counsel On the