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	deacon_n	presbyter_n	3,323	5	10.5055	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13272	Sermons vpon solemne occasions preached in severall auditories. By Humphrey Sydenham, rector of Pokington in Somerset.	Sydenham, Humphrey, 1591-1650?	1637 (1637)	STC 23573; ESTC S118116	163,580	323

may beginne in Moses for before every man was King and Prophet and Priest in his owne Family It will appeare that the first foundation of it was laid in inequality God then distinguishing her Attendants into three orders or degrees Priests Levites Nethinims and above these an Aaron as Superintendent and Commander After Moses death long after the people returning out of Babylon wee have a speciall mention of certaine Teachers in Israell which were also distinguished into three severall rankes Wisemen Scribes Disputers and these not onely succeeding but subordinate to the Prophets which Saint Paul hath a glaunce at against the Iewes where is the Wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer 1. Cor. 1.20 When the Temple was rebuilt though these Orders grew into Sects and instead of them wee finde Essenes Pharises and Sadduces yet not these Ephes 4.11 without their Primate and Metropolitan And in the time of our Saviour when Sects and Orders were so intermingled that wee could scarce distinguish them yet they all joyne in a Superior and wee meete with Priests and Scribes and Elders flocking for advise to the pallace of Caiaphas the high Priest Math. 26.3 After these wee finde Pastors Apostles Prophets Evangelists and they thus distinguished by the great Doctor Saint Paul And lastly Elders Presbyters Deacons and these under their Bishop Timothy 1. Tim. 1.5 So that a priority of degreee and power in the Priesthood wee may draw downe from Moses to Christ from Christ to the Apostles and from them to the Fathers and Prelates of the Church not only by Ecclesiasticall or Apostolicall tradition or constitution but for ought I am hitherto posseess'd of otherwise and I would some higher Iudgement would enforme mee better After Gods owne heart and * Quamvis forsan res ipsae in Ecclesia constitutae humani sint sive Ecclesiastici juris Ipsa tamen obligatio ad Reverentiam promptam Obedientiam talibus Ecclesiae constitutionibus exlnbendam est juris Divint Iuxta illa dicta Evangellca Math. 18.17 1. Cor. 14.32 Heb. 13.17 Io. Forbes Ir enicum lib. 2. cap. 1. sect 5. Iure divino Insomuch that Saint Ierome * S. Ieron comment in Epist ad Tit. cap. 1. himselfe who hath beene reputed a great stickler for the equality of Church-men and a Father that hath sometimes rivall'd Presbyters with Bishops Idem writing to his Evagrins tells him thus Vt sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de lege c. Parte 3. tract 4. Epist 9. ad Evagrium that wee may know Apostolicall traditions to bee derived from the old Law wee doubt not but of what condition Aaron his Sonnes and the Leuites were in the Temple Hoc sibi Episcopi c. The same Bishops Ministers and Deacons challenge in the Church Now who knowes not that Aaron by Gods owne appointment was superiour to his Sonnes his Sonnes to the Levites the Levites to the Nethinims So that a Bishop may claime a transcendency in the Christian Church even by divine Ordinance and Institution Est in lib. 4. sent dist 24. sect 25. or if the truth hereof could not be cleerely evidenced out of those sacred Monuments yet as the same * Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis dign●tate pendet cut si non Exors quaedam ab om tibus eminens det ur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur Schismata quot Sacerdotes S. Hieron in Dialog adversus Luciferian Father addes for avoiding of factions and mutinies and confusion in the Church there is one eminently One requir'd necessarily to sit at the Helme and Rudder a Pilot and Steers-man in those differences A Bishop otherwise there would bee as many Schismes in the Church as Pastors And certainely where disorders have beene so frequent they have proceeded principally through a defect of superiours who either had not the edge of Authority or having it have blunted it though some who have beene imbark'd wholly in matters of Discipline have from the discontented spirits of their age receiv'd their censure rather of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than Episcopi Arer in 1 Tim. 3.1 And yet if wee looke to the Analogy of Reason as well as Scripture we must either grant them a superintendency or else make an absolute confusion For it is here as it is with Instruments if all the strings be unisons there can be no harmony That hand is unshapen and little better than monstrous where all the singers are of the same length Parity in a Church is prodigious There must be as well a superiority in Ecclesiasticke as in Civill government there being required in both One eminent above the rest as Saul was higher than any of the people from the shoulders upwards 1 Sam. 9.2 'T is not enough that there are in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seers but there must be also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Overseers so Saint Paul chargeth the Elders of Ephesus Take heed to the Flocke of which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers Acts 20.28 The old Roman was but laugh'd at that would make an Army of all Commanders for where there were none to obey there could be none to governe And therefore the Wise man sayes that the Church is Tanquam acies ordinatal as an Army with her Banners displayed Cant. 6.4 And in such an Army one Officer is subordinate to another and a common Souldier unto both Some are appointed to be Horse-men some to runne before the Chariots some Captaines of sifties some Captaines of hundreds some Captaines of thousands 1 Sam. 8.12 Hereupon Church-men have beene by some resembled unto Starres for as in the Firmament above one Starre differs from another both in glory and magnitude so they doe also in the Firmament of the Church here Others compare them unto Angels and as there is a Hierarchy of them so of these also the inferiour Angels are illuminated by a higher order of Angels so should it be with those Angels of the Church below the Spirits of the Prophets being subject to the Prophets and God being every where the God of Order and not of confusion 1 Cor. 14.33 Moreover it is evident that the 70. Disciples were inferiour to the Apostles the Levites to the Priests even Iure Divino and in consent to this the Fathers warble sweetly the Bishops succeeded the Apostles the Pastors and Presbyters the 70. Disciples so that as on the one side they were inferiour to the Apostles so on the other these to the Bishops Which allegation of the Cardinall for it is Bellarmines allegation some of your Dutch Hotspurs labouring to wave not onely exclude Bishops from Apostolicall authority but also from succession and to throw them cleane under hatches advance their owne Pastors and can allow them to be the Apostles Successors Aliquo modo Ames Bel. Enerv Tom. 2. c. 4. p. 113. but Bishops as they now are Nullo modo so the factious

Franeker with his Moles sine nervis 2 Tome 4. chapter But if this shall passe for Text and they can thus dis-myter Bishops to crowne their Presbyters how was it that Titus by the appointment of Saint Paul from God no doubt otherwise what had Saint Paul to doe to appoint Titus was left at Creet to ordaine Elders there in every City to reject Hereticks and to set in order the things which were amisse Tit. 1.5 And Titus was the Bishop the first Bishop of the Cretians Moreover how came it to passe Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. that Timothy had by the same Saint Paul power committed unto him over Presbyters and counsell given him to admit an accusation or not to punish or not to punish 1 Tim. 5.19 And that Timothy was a Bishop too the first Bishop of Ephesus who can contradict Now Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. what can these instances otherwise imply then a Superiority by divine law and yet this is againe lifted by the Brethren from Bishops to their Presbyters who may receive an accusation as they pretend no lesse then others And for any Priority Timothy had over the Elders of his time or any Authority to punish or not they stiffly deny not allowing Him or any other Bishop ullum forum Ecclesiasticum praeter forum conscientiae Vt supra Tom. 1. pag. 226. Amesius in great heate would awhile perswade mee so yet afterwards blowes his fingers acknowledging that there were in the Primitive Church besides those the Father styleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men eminent in the word Euseb lib. 7. cap. 13. certaine Presbyters Bishops he will not call them or if he doe he reconciles the Termes which did only attend Governement and for proofe hereof hee quotes Origen against Celsus Orig. Tom. 3. contra Celsum where the Heretique exprobrating the christian Doctors for their weake and simple Auditors the Father answers that the christian Teachers had first for their Schollars some that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probationers and after they were approved did institute two Orders Vnum Incipientium the one of Novists which they called Catechumeni Alterum perfectiorum the other of riper and maturer judgement Vide Amesium tom 2. cap. 4. pag. 108. de distinct Epis cap. presbyteri and amongst them some were praepositi which enquir'd only into the manners and life of others and those which were vitiously inclin'd they punished and cherish'd them which were otherwise dispos'd to vertue Thus whilst he would Enervare Bellarminum hee doth but Enervare Ecclesiam and playing too much with that Candle sindgeth his owne wings First he drownes the word Episcopus in Presbyter and makes them both one and so restraines them to those and onely to those whom he calls Laborantes in Doctrina yet afterwards he new ranks them againe and in one file places his Predicants in another Governours What 's this but that Prelates themselves will allow inferiour Pastors That there is Idem Ministerium but Diversa potestas and that they differ not Quoad virtutem Sacerdotii but quoad potentiam Iurisdictionis There are some and I would there were not turbulent Spirits in our Church which are at such defiance with the Romish See that they are impatient of any other and whilst they endeavour to dis-pope her they would un-Bishop all Christendome For mine owne part a Papall Iurisdiction I equally renounce and disapprove as a Prerogative both insolent and usurp'd but an Episcopall doth not onely ingage my consent but my obedience and that upon a double tye of Reason and Religion If I should not respect order I were a beast if not the Ordinance of my Church a Heathen Saint Paul requires subjection to higher powers on a strong ground Mat. 18.17 because there is no power saith hee but of God Rom. 13.1 no power no civill one you 'l say nay no Ecclesiasticke neither they are both the Ordinances of God He hath a finger in them They are after his owne Heart and he that doth oppose them the Apostle tells you what he purchaseth what Contempt yes and only so No Condemnation too Rom. 13.2 'T is well nigh growne proverbiall now in the English Church no Bishop no King and if neither Bishop nor King how a God God professeth Method and Order in his universall Governement and without these there would bee some manifest Breach and flaw in the carriage of inferior things He knowes that Equality lookes to Anarchy and Anarchy to Confusion And certainely Episcopall honour hath gone downe the winde since this dreame of parity first started in the Church since the Levite hath beene stript of his proper portion and fed with the naked benevolences of the people Geneva doubtlesse was well pleased when Bishopricks were first analiz'd into Pensions when the large revenewes of her Church were un-ravell'd to a stipend of 40. pounds per Annum The Layicke whose religion lieth most in his purse little cares how the Oxe bee muzl'd so he have the profit of treading-out the corne Insomuch that her great Presbyter Calvine himselfe who before had laid the Authority of the Church in the hands of the people and thereupon made stipendary in his commentaries on the lesser Prophets sadly complaineth of a short proportion and a slow Paie And in deed the Glory of the Pastor hath not a little wrap'd and declin'd since Divinity hath beene so much acquainted with the Stipend and the Trencher Wee raise Doctrines now-a-daies according to our pay fill others Eares as they our Hands or Belly put Honey in our Sacrifice instead of Salt sweeten our discourse to the palate of our Contributors Wee sing of their power and cry downe our owne Adde vigour and quicknesse to those temporall hands which can only binde and lose on Earth no more and shackle the vertue of those spirituall ones which as they lose or binde on Earth so they Lose and Binde in Heaven also Wee have so long untwisted the power of the Clergy and woon'd up that of the Layicke that now we are intangled in our owne webbe strucke through with our owne Darts Saint Paul had a time when he could not onely threaten his Corinthian with the Rod but the Galathian with the Sword too with an Abscindantur qui disturbant vos Let them bee cut off that trouble you Gal. 5.12 But now our Sword is not only Blunt or Rustie but wrested out of our hand and how to regaine or new-furbish it wee know not The Philistims have not left us so much as a Smith in Israell So that 1. Sam. 13.19 it speeds now with the poore Pastors as it did then with Saul's heartlesse souldiers who had neither Sword nor Speare for the day of Battle 1. Sam. 13.22 Wee have so long given advantage to the meere secular power that at length our Sword is beaten into the Sithe and our Speare into the pruning Hooke The penall statute hath a Jirke at us and